A Bucket Full of Oysters

By James Sanderson

How much do we know about  the things in life we often take for granted? Why is there a Best Man at a Wedding? What is the oldest Creature on earth that predates the dinosaurs? What is the origin of the Handshake?

Everywhere we go there are so many things we give our passing attention to but if we allow ourselves to be more inquisitiv

• Language: English
• Publisher: That Guy's House
• Release date: Sep 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781912779369

Book preview

1. Animals

It is just like man’s vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dull to his dumb perception.

― Mark Twain

Dogs can understand up to two hundred and fifty words and gestures and can do simple mathematical calculations.

The fart bubbles of blue whales are big enough to enclose an entire horse.

The longest jellyfish recorded measured one hundred and sixty feet.

Even with their short lifespans of fourteen days, the musical abilities of houseflies are still impressive: they always hum in the same key - the key of F.

Ostriches run faster than horses. Male ostriches can also roar like lions.

Fleas can jump up to two hundred times their own height. This is the equivalent of a human male leaping the Empire State Building.

There are a million ants per human being in the world. These creatures never sleep, and they do not have any lungs.

Oysters can change gender for whichever is best for mating.

The orgasms of a pig can last for thirty minutes.

A study that measured the effects of music on cows found that they produce more milk while listening to soothing music. According to the study, they produce most when listening to Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.

Turritopsis nutricula, also known as the immortal jellyfish, is the only known species capable of living forever.

Squirrels accidentally plant thousands of trees every year by forgetting where they’ve hidden their acorns.

Turtles are able to breathe through their bums.

Gentoo penguins propose to their life mate with a pebble.

The earliest known images of dogs in Europe are 12,000-year-old cave paintings found in Spain.

The average elephant weighs less than the tongue of a blue whale.

A whale’s heart beats just nine times per minute.

Male dogs raise their legs when they urinate to aim higher on their target because this sends a message to other dogs that they are tall and intimidating. In Africa, some wild dogs try to accomplish this by running up tree trunks.

Sharks have existed for longer than dinosaurs.

A mole can dig a three hundred foot tunnel in only one night.

Dogs have wet noses to collect more droplets of smelling chemicals from the air.

Hippos attract their mates by urinating and by defecating.

There are approximately twenty-four thousand known species of butterflies.

Currently, there are over a million species of animals on planet earth.

The lifespan of roughly seventy-five percent of wild birds is six months.

It is estimated that there are four hundred million dogs in the world.

Some lions mate more than fifty times per day.

2. Business

When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars people said, ‘Nah, what’s wrong with a horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.

― Elon Musk

Yahoo is an acronym standing for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.

The round tables in Starbucks were specifically created so their customers wouldn’t feel as alone.

Sixty-four percent of today’s consumers have made a purchase decision based on content in social media.

One in ten Europeans are conceived in a bed from Ikea.

In America, if you have ten dollars in your pocket and have no debts, you are wealthier than 25% of the population.

Google’s original name was BackRub.

Pepsi’s name is derived from a digestive enzyme called pepsin.

The most productive workday is Tuesday.

Candy Crush accumulates a reported $633,000 every day in revenue.

Samsung accounts for roughly 20% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Korea.

Warner Music owns the copyright to the Happy Birthday song, so technically they’re owed royalties every time you sing it.

If Bill Gates were a country, he would be the 37th richest country on earth.

McDonald’s first menu items weren’t hamburgers - they were hot dogs.

There are more people on earth with mobile phones than toilets.

Starbucks spends more money on healthcare for its employees than they do on coffee beans – approximately $300 million.

Facebook is blue primarily because founder Mark Zuckerberg suffers from red-green colorblindness.

Apple had a third founder. Ronald Wayne had a 10% stake in Apple when he forfeited his shares twelve days into the company’s lifespan for a mere $2,300 (today’s equivalent of $9,600).

Samsung manufactures Apple’s iPad retina display.

Vaseline’s inventor Robert Chesebrough ate a spoonful of it every morning.

The time in iPhone ads is always 9:42 am or 9:41 am. This is because Apple events always start at 9 am, and product reveals usually happen forty minutes into the presentation.

The best-selling product of all time is the Rubik’s cube. The iPhone comes in second.

One in eight of American workers have at some time been employed by McDonald’s.

Smoking near Apple computers voids their warranty.

YouTube broadcasts roughly one-third of America’s multimedia entertainment.

In 2012, the world’s hundred richest people made enough money to end global poverty…four times over.

The average smartphone user today checks Facebook fourteen times per day.

To date, over eighty million pairs of mouse ears have been purchased at Walt Disney World.

Gambling generates more total revenue than movies, theme parks, spectator sports, recorded music, and cruise ships combined.

3. Celebrities

"A celebrity is a