Mr. Write's Page

More useless facts for inquiring minds.

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— The full name of Barbie, the Mattel “fashion doll,” is Barbara Millicent Roberts, a fact established in a series of Barbie novels in the 1960s. Her parents are George and Margaret Roberts of Willows, Wisconsin. Barbie attended Willows High School.

— Mel Blanc, the legendary voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots.

—  The names of the continents — Asia, Africa, America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia — all begin and end with the same letter. (Yes, North America and South America are separate continents, but lighten up, people.)

— The Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in the 1946 film “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

— The soft drink 7 Up was introduced in 1929 as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.” (“Lithiated” because the drink contained a dose of the mood-stabilizing drug lithium citrate. Lithium was banned from soft drinks in 1948.) Early on, the company founder renamed his beverage 7 Up, but he never explained what 7 Up means, and he took the secret to his grave.

— The shortest complete sentence in English is “I am.”

— One of the traditions of the Navajo people, the Diné, is to throw a party when a baby laughs for the first time. The person who made the baby laugh must organize the party and cover the costs.

— American silver coins have ridges around the edges to prevent “coin clipping” (shaving off little bits of silver). The Mint doesn’t add ridges to pennies or nickels because those metals aren’t worth stealing.

— Maine is the only U.S. state whose name is just one syllable.

— In 1987, American Airlines eliminated one olive from each salad served in first class. The reduced cost of olives, plus the minute reduction in fuel consumption, reportedly saved the company $40,000 that  year.

— The largest shopping center in North America is the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. The mall covers 5,300,000 square feet, about the size of 48 city blocks. It includes 800 stores, 100 restaurants, two hotels, an amusement park, an indoor lake, a miniature golf course, and an ice rink.

— The largest shopping center in the world is the Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates. It covers 12,100,000 square feet, the size of 50 football fields. It features 1,200 stores, 120 restaurants, an Olympic-size ice rink, an interactive playland for children, an amusement park, an aquarium, and a zoo.