On average, the Empire State Building is struck by lightning 25 times each year.
During one storm it was struck 15 times in 15 minutes.
Trivia
Only Children
Only children:
- Burt Bacharach
- Elizabeth Bishop
- Dick Cavett
- Van Cliburn
- Robert De Niro
- Clark Gable
- John Kenneth Galbraith
- William Randolph Hearst
- Lillian Hellman
- Elton John
- Vivien Leigh
- James Michener
- Rex Reed
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Frank Sinatra
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Roger Staubach
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Paul Verlaine
- Emile Zola
Trivium
All mammals have tongues.
Not the Sahara
The largest desert in the world is Antarctica.
Veteran Longevity
The last surviving American veteran of the …
- … American Revolutionary War, Daniel F. Bakeman, died in 1869 at age 109.
- … War of 1812, Hiram Cronk, died in 1905 at age 105.
- … Mexican-American War, Owen Thomas Edgar, died in 1929 at age 98.
- … Spanish-American War, Jones Morgan, died in 1993 at age 111.
The last surviving Union veteran of the American Civil War was Albert Woolson, who died in 1956 at age 109. Amazingly, the last surviving Confederate, John B. Salling, survived until 1959, when he died at age 113.
Four Months Adrift
In 1942, Chinese sailor Poon Lim survived 130 days drifting alone in the South Atlantic. A German U-boat torpedoed his ship and he climbed into a life raft. Lim stayed alive by catching rainwater in a canvas tarp and fishing with a bent nail. At first he counted the days by tying knots in a rope, but then simply began counting full moons. He reached Brazil in April 1943, 20 pounds lighter but able to walk unaided. “I hope no one will ever have to break that record,” he said.
The Madness of Crowds
Countries with the densest populations:
- Monaco – 16,620 inhabitants per square kilometer
- Singapore – 6,389
- Vatican City – 2,093
- Malta – 1,261
- Maldives – 1,163
- Bahrain – 1,035
- Bangladesh – 1,002
- Barbados – 647
- Republic of China (Taiwan) – 636
- Nauru – 621
… and the least dense:
- Guyana – 3 inhabitants per square kilometer
- Canada – 3
- Libya – 3
- Mauritania – 2
- Iceland – 2
- Botswana – 2
- Suriname – 2
- Australia – 2
- Namibia – 2
- Mongolia – 1
Taken as a whole, the population density of the planet is 43 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Single-Border Countries
Countries bordered by only one other country:
- Lesotho – by South Africa
- San Marino – by Italy
- Vatican City – by Italy
- Qatar – by Saudi Arabia
- South Korea – by North Korea (across the demilitarized zone)
- Denmark – by Germany
- The Gambia – by Senegal
- Monaco – by France
- Brunei – by Malaysia
- Canada – by the United States
- Portugal – by Spain
- Dominican Republic – by Haiti
- Haiti – by Dominican Republic
- Brunei – by Malaysia
- Papua New Guinea – by Indonesia
- East Timor – by Indonesia
- Republic of Ireland – by the United Kingdom
Human Life Expectancy
Average human lifespan, by era:
- Neanderthal: 20 years
- Neolithic: 20 years
- Classical Greece: 28 years
- Classical Rome: 28 years
- Medieval England: 33 years
- End of 18th century: 37 years
- Early 20th century: 50 years
- Circa 1940: 65 years
- Current (in the West): 77-81 years
Today the average Zambian dies at age 37, the average Japanese at age 81.
Shuttle Power
At full power, a space shuttle’s engines generate as much energy as 23 Hoover Dams.