1. On men's shirts, the buttons are on the right side; on women's shirts, they are on the left side.
When buttons first appeared in the 17th century, they were only seen on the clothing of the wealthy. At that time, it was customary for rich men to dress themselves and for women to be dressed by servants.
The fact that women's shirts were buttoned on the left made it easier for the mostly right-handed servants to dress them. The fact that men's shirts were buttoned on the right was not only practical because most men dressed themselves, but also because a sword drawn from the left hip with the right hand was less likely to get caught in the shirt.
2. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great Pharaoh Ramses II, who is said to have fathered over 160 children.
3. Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee in the world, is made from coffee beans obtained from the dried secretions of palm civets - small, cat-like animals that live in Southeast Asia.
The animal eats only the select berries, which gives the coffee its distinctive flavor. While it does consume the coffee cherries needed for this unusual delicacy, it doesn't digest them. The animal passes the beans through its digestive tract so they can be consumed by the waiting people.
Kopi Luwak has spread from Indonesia to the USA and Europe. Last year, a London branch announced that it would charge its customers 70 pounds for a cup.
4. Most shopping malls now have perfumes at the entrance. There's a reason for this:
Before cars existed, commuters relied on horses, which left a lot of manure on the roads. To ensure that the stench/bad smell didn't permeate the shop, perfumes and fragrances were always kept near the entrance. This was done so that customers would have a pleasant experience upon entering the store.
5. A honeybee must tap two million flowers to produce one pound of honey.
6. Potato chips were invented in 1853 in Saratoga Springs by cook George Crum as a mocking response to a guest who complained that his French fries were too thick.
7. To determine the percentage of alcohol in a bottle of liquor, divide the alcohol content by two.
8. American Airlines saved $40,000 a year by removing ONE olive from every salad.
9. Jeans are sewn with orange thread to match the copper rivets on the pockets.
10. The first product to have a barcode on its packaging was Wrigley's chewing gum.
11. The first cloned animal, "Dolly," was named in honor of Dolly Parton because it was cloned from a "mother" cell.
12. It takes 43 muscles to frown, but only 17 to smile.
13. If a statue of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died from wounds in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
14. The liquid in tender coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma in emergencies.
15. Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil. It was even found in edible form in the pyramids. If you call someone "Honey," you bless them with a long life.
16. Only one McDonald's in the world has turquoise arches. It's in Sedona, Arizona. Government officials felt that the yellow wouldn't match the city's natural red rock.
17. The black box, the flight recorder, is colored orange so that it is easily recognizable in the event of a plane crash.
18. "A Persian carpet is perfectly imperfect and precisely imprecise. Carpet weavers in Iran intentionally add a flaw to their work so that it is not perfect. The reason for this is that, according to Islam, only Allah is perfect."
19. It is generally accepted that sailors' flared trousers were introduced in 1817 to allow men to roll them down over their knees when washing the decks and to remove them more easily if they were forced to abandon ship or were washed overboard. Furthermore, the trousers could be used as a lifebuoy by knotting the legs and swinging them over the head to inflate the legs.
20. The pilot and co-pilot of an aircraft must eat separate meals to minimize the risk of food poisoning. Even if one meal is contaminated, it is highly unlikely that the other is as well, thus ensuring the safety of at least one pilot!
21. For more than fifty years after the founding of the Indian railways, a crucial element was missing from the country's trains: toilets.