Over the course of the 1970s, gold as investment returned 33.8% per year (cite)
The phrase “mother of all [___]” was coined by Saddam Hussein, to describe the Gulf War. (cite)
In the US, the only two goods for which it is illegal to trade futures contracts are onions and box office receipts (cite, h/t).
One open problem in mathematics is what is the largest area that can be maneuvered through an L-shaped planar region — in other words, what is the largest sized sofa that can move around the corner of a corridor (cite).
It is illegal to charge more than 25% interest on a loan in the state of New York (cite)
There is no evidence Carthage was sown with salt at all; however, the chosen ancient method of ruining farmland was to sow salt with the seeds of particularly aggressive weeds; i.e., salt was sown not because it sterilized, but because it encourage the growth of weeds. (cite) (cite)
Walt Disney came up with the idea to mark ski slopes by green circle (easiest), blue square (medium difficulty) and a black diamond (high difficulty) (cite).
The last 5 NBA MVP awards have gone to non-American players (cite)
As of 2024, the United States produces more oil than any country in history, and roughly 30% more than the second and third highest producing companies (Russia, Saudi Arabia). (cite)
Drop shots occur in 4.6% of all ATP men’s tennis points (cite)
Women were not legally allowed to obtain credit cards until 1974 (cite)
Alaska is larger than the next three largest states (Texas, California, Montana) combined. (cite)
More than half of all American households hold shares in at least one mutual fund (cite)
$\pi$ is irrational, and $e$ is irrational, but we do not know whether $\pi + e$ is rational. (cite)
The Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest, continuous, one-name one city franchise in all of sports (cite)
Guinea is the only country on earth without any telephone lines (cite)
