During my wanderings yesterday I stumbled on a new treasure trove of absolutely useless information expanded to include virtually every country on the planet.  I felt just like a little kid in a candy store.  These factoids and tidbits are much more interesting than some I’ve previously found and I’m happy to be sending them along to you.  Where I can I’ll note the source of the material and if you dispute the information call them.

There is no rhyme or reason as to how they are listed so just wade on through and enjoy.

• At birth, most babies cry at C or C Sharp. – Financial Times
• Five people were killed by falling icicles in the central Russian town of Samara between February 23 and 25, 2008. – Reuters
• On a QWERTY keyboard, 32% of keystrokes take place on the middle row, 52% on the upper row, and 16% on the bottom row. – Discover Magazine
• In ninety days a single toad can consume nearly 10,000 insects. – State of the World
• Hitler was on the short list for the 1938 Nobel Peace Prize. – The Guardian
• Two thirds of the world’s people have never seen snow. – Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar
• The average British woman spends two years of her life gazing in the mirror. – The Times
• Every year, an average of twelve Japanese tourists in Paris have to be repatriated due to severe culture shock. – Foreign Policy Passport
• Henry David Thoreau once burned down three hundred acres of forest trying to cook a fish he had caught for supper. – The Times
• On an average day, about 3.3% of the worlds population has sex.  Less than 0.4% of these acts result in births. – Financial Times
• Asians make up 35% of the undergraduate body at MIT but only 4% of the US population. – New York Book Review
• There are an estimated 10,000 trillion ants on earth – roughly 1.6 million for each human.  Their combined weight is equivalent to that of the entire human population. – MSN
• Spammers typically need to send one million emails to get fifteen positive responses. – The New Yorker
• Jack Bauer, the lead character from the series 24, personally killed 112 people in the first five seasons of the show. – The Guardian
• About 85% of Chinese people share only a hundred surnames.  Wang is the most popular (with 93 million people), followed by Li (92 million) and Zhang (88 million). At least 100,000 people are named “Wang Tao,” making it the most popular full name. – China Daily

There you have it.  The first installment of International Trivia.  It’s nice to see that we Americans are not alone when it comes to weirdness and odd behavior.  Carry on.