Everyone loves to pull out a good fact to impress your friends over dinner. But we've all heard the ones about pig orgasms and distance from rats, so it's time some new facts were brought to light. And since many of us end up quoting crazy facts that aren't true (Charlie Chaplin didn't come third in a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest) it's always good to have some knowledge to back up the unbelievable. Here are twenty amazing statements - drawn from popular culture, history and science - and the facts behind them.
20. If Every Person In The World Lived In Texas The Population Density Would Be Less Than New York's
Turns out Texas is a pretty big place. 696,241 km squared to be precise. And if you took all 7 billion, 237 million, 568 thousand people in the world (at the time of writing) and made them all live in Texas, the population density would be around 10,395 people per km squared. Compare that to New York, which has an approximate population density of 10,725/km squared. So y'know, don't be too worried about the world becoming overcrowded any time soon.
19. Marilyn Monroe And The Queen Were Born In The Same Year
Both ladies were born in 1926, with the Queen being just two months older than the blonde bombshell. However, since Marilyn Monroe died at the age of 36 she will always be remembered as a young woman, in contrast to the Queen who is clearly immortal.
18. You Are More Likely To Get A Computer Virus From A Church Website Than A Porn Website
According to Symantec, the makers of Norton AntiVirus, you are three time as likely to end up with some kind of malware on a religious website than you are a pornographic one. The reason behind this is simple; the people that run pornographic websites are well-accustomed to hackers and the other perils of the internet, whereas Church websites are usually created and maintained by well-meaning volunteers with no specialist knowledge of internet security.