The Utterly, Completely, and Totally Useless Fact-O-Pedia

by Gary Bennett Charlotte Lowe

  Built on an archipelago of 118 islands, Venice has 150 canals connected by 409 bridges and over 3000 alleyways.

  Venice’s population has halved over the last fifty years and is currently estimated at about 63,000. The relocation is due in large part to the high living costs and the inconvenience of living away from the mainland. Tourists, in fact, outnumber residents 2 to 1.

  There is no sewer system in Venice. All household waste flows into the canals and flushes out into the ocean twice a day with the tides.

  Venetian masks are a centuries-old pastime of Venice, Italy. In the past, they were occasionally used to disguise people’s identity and social status.

  For years, Venice’s land has been sinking while the surrounding sea has been rising due to climate change. Unless action is taken, it’s possible that Venice will be uninhabitable by the year 2100.

  Venus

  Double time…Venus and Earth are so similar in size that they are considered twins.

  Venus is the brightest planet and star in the sky.

  The temperature of the surface of Venus scorches at 870ºF (466°C). This is higher than any other planet and hotter than most ovens; no animal on Earth could survive the conditions.

  Venus rotates very slowly: one day in Venus is equivalent to 243 Earth days.

  The planet also rotates backwards, unlike any other planet in the solar system.

  Venus has no moons.

  Vespa®

  Vespa®, an Italian line of scooters manufactured by Piaggio, is now Europe’s largest manufacturer of two-wheeled vehicles, and the world’s fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer by unit sales. The inspiration for the original classic scooter was derived from the pre-WWII Cushman scooters which were made in Nebraska and exported to Italy in large numbers.

  If Americans were to switch just 10% of their total mileage to scooters, they would consume 14 million gallons less fuel and reduce CO2 emissions by 324 million pounds in just one day.

  Buzz worthy…Vespa is the Italian word for wasp. When examining the prototype with its wide seated central part and the narrow waist, the founder exclaimed, “It looks like a wasp!”

  Vespa® scooters were a stylish and economical mode of transportation for Mods in the late 1950s to mid 1960s.

  Hollywood greatly influenced the sale of Vespas® during the height of their popularity. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck cruised around Rome on a Vespa® in Roman Holiday, which resulted in huge sales increases.

  Vienna

  Vienna is thought to be the birthplace of modern zoo keeping. The zoo at Tiergarten Schonbrun was commissioned by the Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan (who later became Holy Roman Emperor Francis I). In 1778, the zoo opened its doors to the public on Sundays only and to “decently dressed persons.”

  The city center in Vienna is a World Heritage Site. In 2005, an Economist Intelligence unit study of 127 world cities ranked Vienna first for quality of life…alongside Vancouver, Canada.

  Dancing divas…Vienna is the last-standing capital of the nineteenth century ball. More than 200 significant balls are held annually, some of which feature as many as nine live orchestras. The balls generally begin at 9pm and can go on until 5am.

  Vienna was home to many influential artists and world-renowned personalities including painter Gustav Klimt, Sigmund Freud, author Arthur Schnitzler, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Strauß, and Gustav Mahler.

  Local culinary delights include Wiener Schnitzel, Knödel (dumplings), and decadent desserts such as the Sachertorte, which is Vienna’s most famed chocolate cake.

  Volcanoes

  The name “volcano” is derived from the name of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

  Mount Erubus is an active volcano in Antarctica that spews pieces of pure gold when it erupts. In this region, all that glitters really is gold.

  Scientists discovered a volcano in the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. It emits molten gold and silver.

  In 1994, scientists discovered a volcano near the South Pole under 1.2 miles of ice.

  Active volcanoes in the U.S. can be found in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington; however, Hawaii and Alaska are the only two states with the greatest chance of eruption near communities.

  W

  Waldorf Astoria

  The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the famed luxury hotel in New York City, first started as two hotels—one owned by William Waldorf Astor and the other owned by his cousin, John Jacob Astor IV.

  The Waldorf Astoria was the first hotel to abolish the “ladies” entrance as well as the first to serve room service.

  Star power…famous residents have included Marilyn Monroe, Cole Porter, Bugsy Siegel, and Nikola Tesla.

  The Titanic hearings were conducted by a special subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee and chaired by Senator William A. Smith. These hearings were held at the original Waldorf Astoria.

  It is the only hotel in the world to be home to an official Embassy—the residence of the U.S. Embassy to the United Nations.

  The hotel boasts an international staff that can interpret and translate most languages in the world.

  The Waldorf Astoria and Waldorf Towers offers a total of 1,416 guest rooms and suites, featuring original Art Deco motifs. Each room is decorated differently; no two are exactly alike.

  Walrus

  Found near the Arctic Circle, the moustached and long-tusked walruses are extremely sociable, prone to bellowing and snorting at each other. But when push comes to shove, these marina mammals become more aggressive during mating season.

  In the 18th and 19th centuries, walrus tusks, oil, skin, and meat were in such high demand that they were hunted to extinction in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and around Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. Today, only Native Americans are allowed to hunt walruses.

  These tusks weren’t made for walking…Walrus tusks are designed to help the blubbery animals haul themselves out of water.

  Walruses can weigh up to 1.5 tons, and their blubber insulates them from the cold and can be up to 15 cm thick.

  Don’t let its size deceive you. Walruses are natural swimmers that can reach speeds of up to 35 km/hr.

  Warhol, Andy

  “The idea is not to live forever, it is to create something that will.”—Andy Warhol

  Andy’s brother, Paul Warhol, featured an exhibit of his paintings he created using chicken feet as brushes.

  Warhol made over 300 underground films. Sleep, the first, simply showcased a man asleep for six hours.

  In 2006, billionaire collector Eli Broad paid $11.8 million for Andy Warhol’s small painting of a can of Campbell’s soup.

  The film I Shot Andy Warhol was inspired by the SCUM Manifesto, the anti-men rhetoric published by Valerie Solanas in the 1960s. It was originally planned as a documentary, but the filmmakers could not find much footage of Solanas or anyone to speak about her.

  Water

  The average person consumes 16,000 gallons of water in a lifetime.

  50% of the world’s population does not have an adequate supply of fresh water.

  300 different chemicals can be found in U.S. drinking water.

  Drinking water after a meal reduces the acid in the mouth by 61%.

  At birth, water makes up approximately 80% of an infant’s body weight.

  Water intoxication is the over-consumption of water. The excess water dilutes the sodium level in the bloodstream, causing an imbalance of water in the brain, and it can be fatal.

  Pure water has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.

  346,000 million gallons of fresh water are used every day in the US.

  Wedding

  Brides in ancient Rome carried sheaves of wheat during their weddings as symbols of fertility.

  Brides once carried bouquets of garlic, chives, and rosemary as protection against witches and demons.

  During the Tudor period in England, bridal bouquets were made
with marigolds, which were eaten after the ceremony to ensure fertility.

  The tower of St Bride’s Church in London inspired the three-tiered cake. A London baker decided to copy the idea as a design for fashionable weddings and it has continued to be as popular today as it was almost three hundred years ago.

  The most expensive wedding was the marriage of Sheik Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s son to Princess Salama in Dubai in May 1981. Cost? A cool $44 million.

  Traditionally in Sweden, the bride inserts a silver coin from her father and a gold coin from her mother in each shoe to ensure that she will never do without.

  Whales

  The brain of a sperm whale can weigh up to 20 lbs making it the largest and heaviest brain on the planet.

  A humpback whale can consume up to a ton of food every day.

  The voice of the blue whale, one of the deepest voices on the planet, is so powerful that it can travel up to 100 miles underwater. The whales sing at frequencies between 10 and 40 Hz, and infrasound less than 20 Hz cannot be heard by humans.

  Scientists have discovered that each whale population has its own “language” which is understood only by those individuals in the population.

  Spermaceti oil, made from the sperm whale, was used as transmission oil in the Rolls Royce.

  A blue whale’s tongue weighs more than a whole elephant, and is large enough for fifty people to stand on it.

  In Oklahoma, it is against the law to hunt whales…an odd law as the state is landlocked.

  White House

  John Adams was the first president to live in the White House in 1800. During his term, he added a vegetable garden.

  In 1926, the White House had its first electric refrigerator.

  First constructed in 1902 behind the West Wing, the White House tennis court was moved to the west side of the south lawn in 1909 to make room for the expansion of the Executive office space.

  It takes 300 gallons of white paint just to cover the center exterior of the White House, which doesn’t include the West and East Wings.

  The White House has 132 rooms, including 16 family-guest rooms, 1 main kitchen, 1 diet kitchen, 1 family kitchen, and 35 bathrooms.

  Wine

  Foot treading of grapes is still a common procedure in producing small quantities of some of the world’s best port wines.

  Swirling the glass invites oxygen into the glass, which releases the aromas.

  The region of Beaujolais is 34 miles long from north to south and 7 to 9 miles wide. All the grapes in the Beaujolais region must be picked by hand. These are the only vineyards, along with Champagne, where hand harvesting is mandatory.

  There are more than 10,000 varieties of grapes grown around the world. It takes an average of four years before newly planted grape vines are harvested for the production of wine.

  France produces the largest number of wine cases—averaging 550 million each year.

  Wonder, Stevie

  He was born Steveland Morris and went blind soon after his birth due to a hospital error. By the time he was eight, Stevie was already playing the harmonica, piano and drums.

  Stevie Wonder earned his first number-one hit with the song “Fingertips.” Both the studio and live versions of the song featured drumming by a future star known as Marvin Gaye.

  Peter Frampton, Kim Wilde and Human Nature have covered his hit song “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered.”

  Wonder is a devoted humanitarian who has contributed to AIDS awareness, anti-apartheid efforts, crusades against drunk driving and drug abuse, and fund raising for the blind and the homeless.

  He has earned ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts, 20 U.S. R&B number one hits, and album sales totalling more than 150 million units. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

  Aisha Morris, his daughter, inspired the hit single “Isn’t She Lovely.”

  Wonder Woman

  Wonder Woman’s real name is Diana Themyscira.

  Her powers include super strength, flight, and the ability to make invisible cars at will. Her weapons of choice are the lasso of truth, unbreakable silver bracelets, and a razor-sharp golden tiara.

  Wonder Woman is 5 ft 11 in and weighs 140 lbs.

  Her silver bracelets are made from a magically indestructible metal in Amazonium.

  The first issue of Gloria Steinham’s Ms. magazine featured Wonder Woman on the cover. The issue featured an article celebrating the feminist nature of the world’s most famous female superhero.

  Lynda Carter had only $25 remaining in her bank account when she received the news that she was cast as Wonder Woman. She beat out 2,000 other actresses for the coveted role.

  X

  The X-Factor

  Similar to American Idol, The X-Factor is a British television music competition contested by aspiring pop singers drawn from public auditions.

  In the four years up to 2007, more than 375,000 people applied for The X Factor—enough harmonies to fill Wembley stadium…over four times.

  The most popular audition song choices for females include “Summertime,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Hero,” and “How Do I Live Without You.”

  The most popular audition song choices for males are “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “You Give Me Something, Yesterday,” and “I Believe I Can Fly.”

  Chanteuse Leona Lewis went from being a pizza waitress to a 2007 X-Factor winner to global superstar.

  The X-Files

  The X-Files is a television series, created by Chris Carter, which first aired in 1993 and ended in 2002. It won numerous accolades including the Peabody, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award.

  William B. Davis, the actor who plays the Cigarette Smoking Man, is also a spokesman for the Canadian Cancer Society. He smoked herbal cigarettes during his scenes.

  The show had no shortage of guest appearances. Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi shared an episode in season three while Luke Wilson was in season five.

  The episode “Piper Maru” was named after Gillian Anderson’s daughter.

  One of Mulder’s “connections in Congress”—Senator Matheson—was named after classic sci-fi horror writer named Richard Matheson.

  Xylophone

  The xylophone was first used in Southeast Asia in the 14th century.

  A xylophone was first used in an orchestral work, in Danse Macabre (1874) by French composer Camille Saint-Saens.

  A glockenspiel, a musical instrument similar to the xylophone, has a series of metal bars and is played with two hammers.

  Total recall! In 2009, The Land of Nod recalled its Rolling Toy Xylophones after receiving numerous reports about pieces of the toy breaking off. The pegs on the xylophone could break off and posed choking hazards to children. About 500 toys were included in the recall.

  In July 2004 in Nottingham, UK, a beloved street performer named “Xylophone Man” passed away from a heart attack. After more than a decade on the streets, Xylophone Man was instantly recognizable to a wide range of the public. Although he reportedly wasn’t very good at the xylophone, he certainly made up for it in heart.