Ten Random Facts

Fingernail polish often contains four or five chemicals the Environmental Protection Agency calls potentially harmful. If a person bought fingernail polish in a 55-gallon drum, the empty drum could not be legally thrown into a landfill. It would have to be transported to the nearest state-regulated commercial hazardous-waste disposal facility. As many as 350,000 nail-polish bottles find their way into the average U.S. municipal waste landfill every year.
Environment

In 1975, Ellen Burstyn was the first person to win an Oscar and a Tony in the same year. These awards were for her performances in the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and the play Same Time, Next Year.
Entertainment

It took three years of constant printing to complete Johann Gutenberg's famous Bible, which appeared in 1455 in two volumes, and had 1,284 pages. He reportedly printed 200 Bibles, of which 47 still exist.
History

According to the Beer Institute in Washington, D.C., a combination of federal, state, and local taxes accounts for almost 43 percent of the cost of every bottle of beer sold in the United States.
Food and Drink

Dry ice does not melt. It sublimes, which means it goes directly from solid form to gaseous form.
Environment

Cats, not dogs, are now the most common pets in America. Approximately 66 million cats to 58 million dogs are family pets, with parakeets "flying" a distant third at 14 million.
Animals

About 17 minutes of baseball pitching is required to burn 100 calories.
People

In ancient Rome, wealthy Romans always drank from goblets made of quartz crystal. They believed the transparent mineral was a safeguard against their enemies, because legend had it that a cup carved from the transparent mineral would not hold poison.
Miscellaneous

Diogenes (c. 400-325 B.C.) the Greek founder of Cynicism, rejected social conventions and supposedly lived in a tub in defiance of human comforts.
People

In the U.S., prime-time Westerns on TV reached their peak in 1958-1959, when there were 31 shows on the air. The public's taste shifted, and by 1964-1965, the number of TV Westerns had plummeted to 7. Westerns have never enjoyed such popularity on U.S. television since.
Entertainment » Television

More random trivia, or select from the menu on the left to browse.