MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at tidbits of information.

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

There are many serious events making history today in America. This week’s column has nothing to do with any of them! Sit back and enjoy a hodgepodge of facts — some useful, others not so much.

— Shirley Temple always had 56 curls in her hair.

— The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

— Ten percent of the Russian government’s money comes from the sale of vodka.

— It costs more to buy a new car today in the United States than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake three voyages to and from the New World.

— In 18th century English gambling houses, there was one (or more) employee whose sole job was to swallow the dice in the event of a raid.

— Celery actually has a negative calorie count. It burns more calories to eat a stalk of celery than the celery contains.

— One in eight Americans has worked at a McDonald’s.

— The phrase “rule of thumb” originates from an old English law that stated a husband could beat his wife with nothing wider than his thumb.

— Plastic flamingos in America outnumber real flamingos.

— Chewing gum while peeling, slicing and chopping onions helps reduce tearing of the eyes.

— Porcupines can float in water.

— It is estimated that a person spends seven years of his or her life in the bathroom.

— A group of 26 people in Mexico could go see a movie for the cost of one person in Tokyo.

— The top three health-related searches on the internet are (in this order) depression, allergies and cancer.

— Donald Duck comic books were once banned from Finland because he didn’t wear pants.

— Oak trees rarely produce acorns until they are 50 years of age or older.

— Bulletproof vests, laser printers, windshield wipers and fire escapes were all invented by women.

— At last count, there were 13,092 knives, forks and spoons in the White House.

— In Walt Disney’s “Fantasia,” the sorcerer’s’s name is Yensid, Disney spelled backwards.

— John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.

— The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.

— Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

— A person burns more calories sleeping than watching television.

— The world consumes about 2.25 billion cups of coffee each day.

— More board games are sold in Germany than any other place in the world.

— Forty is the only number whose letters are in alphabetical order.

— A sidewalk must be at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit to cook an egg.

— Almost one-third of the world’s languages are spoken only in Africa.

— The oil in cashews helps prevent tooth decay.

— People with blue eyes have a higher tolerance for alcohol.

— Eel-flavored ice cream is available in Japan.

— From 1898 to 1910, heroin was sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine and was often prescribed as a cough medicine for children.

— More people are killed annually by donkeys than airplane crashes.

— “Tom Sawyer” was the first known novel to be written on a typewriter.

— Firehouses have circular stairways because in the old days, when the engines were pulled by horses, the horses were stabled on the ground floor and could (and would) climb up the straight staircases.

— The only nation that’s name begins with an “A” but doesn’t end in an “a” is Afghanistan.

— If done perfectly, a Rubix Cube can be solved in 17 turns.

— Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.

— Weatherman Willard Scott was the original Ronald McDonald. In 1960, Scott wore a hat resembling a hamburger meal, a cup on his nose and hamburger bun shoes.

— Rubber bands last longer if kept refrigerated.

— It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of footballs.

— Months that begin on Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th.

— The first product Motorola developed was a record player for automobiles. At the time, Victrola was the most popular record player on the market so…the new company called itself ‘Motorola’.

— Charlie Chaplin once came in third place in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

— Spam is consumed at the rate of 3.6 cans per second.

— Kangaroos cannot walk backwards.

— In spelling out the words for numbers, it is necessary to go all the was to one thousand before coming across the letter “a.”

— On average, U.S. home-buyers look at eight properties before choosing a house.

— Maine is the only state name with just one syllable.

— Pennsylvania is misspelled on the Liberty Bell … it has only one “n”.

—Strawberries contain more Vitamin C than oranges.

— Blue is the most-preferred color for a toothbrush.

— One in 20 babies are born on their expected due date.

— During car crashes, 40 percent of drivers never hit the brakes.

— A person’s foot is very near the same length as the forearm as measured from the inside of the elbow to the wrist.

— The average driver spends six months of his or her life sitting at red lights.

— Children laugh an average of 300 times a day, while adults average only 17 laughs per day.

— “Underground” is the only word in the English language to start and end with “und.”

— The average life span of an eyelash is five months.

— Of all industrial accidents, 40 percent happen on a Monday or a Friday.

QUIK QUIZ answer: (d) 400