Trivia 5 - Bizarre Facts III

On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
On the new one hundred dollar bill the time on the clock tower of Independence Hall is 4:10. 
One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as competition. It is not chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine.
Only female mosquitoes bite. 
Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode. 
Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates that have blue eyes. 
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. 
Pamela Lee-Anderson is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on the centennial anniversary of Canada's independence. 
Panama hats come from Ecuador not Panama. 
Peanuts are used in the production of dynamite. 
Pearls melt in vinegar. 
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eyes." 
Pogonophobia is the fear of beards. 
Polar bear fur is not white, it's clear. 
Race car is a palindrome. 
Ralph Lauren's original name was Ralph Lifshitz. 
Residents of the island of Lesbos are Lesbosians, rather than Lesbians. (Of course, lesbians are called lesbians because Sappho was from Lesbos.) 
Revolvers cannot be silenced, due to all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel. 
Rhythm and "syzygy" are the longest English words without vowels. 
Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, remains the only person, to date, to have graduated from the West Point military academy without a single demerit. 
Roosters can't crow if they can't fully extend their necks. 
Russians generally answer the phone by saying, 'I'm listening.' 
S.O.S. doesn't stand for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" -- It was chosen by an 1908 international conference on Morse Code because the letters S and O were easy to remember and just about anyone could key it and read it, S = dot dot dot, O = dash dash dash. 
Samuel Clemens's pseudonym "Mark Twain" was the nickname of a riverboat pilot about whom Clemens wrote a needless nasty satirical piece. Apparently, Clemens felt guilty later and adopted the nom de plume as some sort of expiation. The phrase "mark twain" from which the river pilot got his name does not mean two fathoms (twelve feet.) 
Sharon Stone was the first "Star Search" spokes model. 
Smithee is a pseudonym that filmmakers use when they don't want their names to appear in the credits. 
Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating. 
Soda water does not contain soda. 
Some Eskimos have been known to use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing. 
Soweto in South Africa was derived from SOuth WEst TOwnship. 
Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.' 
Speak of the Devil is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention and he would appear. 
St. Bernards, famous for their role as alpine rescue dogs, do NOT wear casks of brandy around their necks. 
Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is the great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young. 
Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller. 
Talk show host Montel Williams had a nose job.
Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music. 
The "Grinch" singer and voice of Tony the Tiger is a man named Thurl Ravenscroft. 
The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards. 
The allele for six fingers and toes is dominant in humans. 
The Andy Griffth Show was the first spin-off in TV history. It was spun-off from the Danny Thomas Show. 
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. 
The average scalp has 100,000 hairs. Redheads have the least at 80,000; brown and black haired persons have about 100,000; and blondes have the most at 120,000. (That is more than a thousand hairs in each square inch!)
The band "Duran Duran" got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella." 
The bat on the Bacardi symbol is there because the soil where the sugar cane grows is fertile from the excessive guano (bat droppings.) 
The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane. 
The bubbles in Guiness Beer sink to the bottom rather than float to the top like all other beers. No one knows why. 
The car in the foreground on the back of a $10 bill is a 1925 Huptmobile. 
The car manufacturer Henry Ford was awarded Hitler's Supreme Order of the German Eagle. 
The childrens' nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-Round-The-Rosies' actually refers to the Black Death which killed about 30 million people in the fourteenth-century. 
The Chinese ideogram for 'trouble' depicts two women living under one roof'. 
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match. 
The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself." 
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns. 
The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. 
The dome on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, conceals a billiards room. In Jefferson's day, billiards were illegal in Virginia. 
The dunce cap of schoolhouse fame originates from a paper cone that was placed on the heads of accused witches during the Middle Ages. When Joan of Arc was martyred, she was wearing one of them. 
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. 
The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended to represent the first letter ("shin," pronounced "sheen") of the word "shalom." As a small boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; eventually he was able to add it to "Star Trek" lore. 
The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines. 
The first inter-racial kiss on TV was in an original "STAR TREK" episode entitled "Plato's Stepchildren". The kiss was between Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner. 
The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola. 
The first safety razor was not actually invented by King Gillette himself but by a man named William Nickerson who was Kings partner. They believed that the label bearing Nickersons name would be bad for business, plus it was Kings idea anyway.
The first time the word "hell" was spoken on TV was in an original "STAR TREK" episode entitled "City on the Edge of Forever". The exact quote was "...let's get the hell out of here...", spoken by William Shatner. 
The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver". 
The 'Hundred Years War' lasted 116 years. 
The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark. 
The launching mechanism of a carrier ship that helps planes to take off could throw a pickup truck over a mile. 
The lead singer of The Knack, famous for "My Sharona," and Jack Kevorkian's lead defense attorney are brothers, Doug & Jeffrey Feiger. 
The Les Nessman character on the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati wore a band-aid in every episode. Either on himself, his glasses, or his clothing. 
The lifespan of a tastebud is ten days. 

Trivia 4 - Bizarre Facts II

Here is the next batch of bizarre facts and trivia:


John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre and was found in a warehouse. Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and was found in a theatre. 
John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son. 
June Foray, the voice of Talking Tina from the classic Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll", was also the voice of Rocky the talking squirrel from "Rocky & Bullwinkle". 
Kathleen Turner was the voice of Jessica Rabbit, and Amy Irving was her singing voice. 
King Kong is the only movie to have its sequel (Son of Kong) released the same year (1933). 
Lady Astor once told Winston Churchill 'if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee'. His reply ' if you were my wife, I would drink it!' 
Leonardo De Vinci invented the scissors. 
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son. 
Liquid paper was invented by Mike Nesmith's (of the Monkees) mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, in 1951. 
Lizzie Borden was acquitted. 
Look at the number four on a clock face that uses Roman numerals. If the clock is made correctly then the Roman numeral four is wrong. The standard and correct way to write the Roman numeral four is "IV," but the traditional way to show it on a clock face is "IIII." Legend has it that a clock was made for a British king. When he saw the clock he mis- informedly corrected the clock maker who re-did the clock face to show a "IIII" instead of an "IV" thus not risking offending the king. Other clock makers followed suit so as not to embarrass the king. Now it is the traditional way to make clocks.
Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom." 
Lynyrd Skynard was the name of the gym teacher of the boys who went on to form that band. He once told them, "You boys ain't never gonna amount to nothin'." 
Melanie Griffith's mother is actress Tippi Hendren, best known for her lead role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. 
Men leave their hotel rooms cleaner than women do. 
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th." 
Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds. 
More money is printed daily for the Monopoly game than by the U.S. Treasury. 
More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes. 
Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F. 
Mozart was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. 
Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister. 
Nine pennies weigh exactly one ounce. 
Ninety eight per cent of the weight of water is made up from oxygen. 
No animal, once frozen solid (i.e., water solidifies and turns to ice) survives when thawed, because the ice crystals formed inside cells would break open the cell membranes. However there are certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. These frogs make special proteins, which prevent the formation of ice (or at least keep the crystals from becoming very large), so that they actually never freeze even though their body temperature is below zero Celsius. The water in them remains liquid: a phenomenon known as 'supercooling.' If you disturb one of these frogs (just touching them even), the water in them quickly freezes solid and they die. 
No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times. 
Non-dairy creamer is flammable. 
Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older. 
Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.) 
On 15 April 1912 the SS Titanic sunk on her maiden voyage and over 1,500 people died. Fourteen years earlier a novel was published by Morgan Robertson which seemed to foretell the disaster. The book described a ship the same size as the Titanic which crashes into an iceberg on its maiden voyage on a misty April night. The name of Robertson's fictional ship was the Titan. 

Trivia 3 - Bizarre Facts I

A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night! 
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation! 
A crocodile always grows new teeth to replace the old teeth! 
A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in the air is a skein! 
A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it's there, though! 
A hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute on average! 
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside! 
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny! 
A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second! 
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court! 
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove! 
After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again! 
Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings! 
Bulls are colorblind, therefore will usually charge at a matador's waving cape no matter what color it is -- be it red or neon yellow! 

Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand! 
Cat urine glows under a black-light! 
Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed... or is that paws?! 
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie! 
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks! 
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete! 
If you counted 24 hours a day, it would take 31,688 years to reach one trillion! 
Most lipstick contains fish scales! 
No piece of square dry paper can be folded more than 7 times in half! 
Nose prints are used to identify dogs, just like humans use fingerprints! 
One ragweed plant can release as many as one billion grains of pollen! 
Over 10,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows! 
Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people!

Porcupines float in water! 
Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing! 
Smelling bananas and/or green apples (smelling, not eating) can help you lose weight! 
The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons! 
The average life span of a major league baseball is 5-7 pitches! 
The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year! 
The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons! 
The electric chair was invented by a dentist! 
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds! 
The most used letter in the English alphabet is 'E', and 'Q' is the least used! 
The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven! 
The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'! 
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet at all times! 
The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people! 
The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet! 
The sloth (a mammal) moves so slowly that green algae can grow undisturbed on its fur! 
The state of Florida is bigger than England! 
The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth! 
The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1! 
There are more than 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building! 
Thomas Edison, lightbulb inventor, was afraid of the dark! 
Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland! 
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day! 
You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206! 
101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie. 
142857 is a cyclic number, the numbers of which always appear in the same order but rotated around when multiplied by any number from 1 to 6. 142857 * 2 = 285714 142857 * 3 = 428571 142857 * 4 = 571428 142857 * 5 = 714285 142857 * 6 = 857142 
A barnacle has the largest penis of any other animal in the world in relation to its size. 
A dragonfly has a lifespan of twenty-four hours. 
A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why. 
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. 
A flush toilet exists that dates back to 2000 BC. 
A fully loaded supertanker traveling at normal speed takes a least twenty minutes to stop. 
A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. 
A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away. 
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. 
A rat can last longer without water than a camel. 
A rhinoceros' horn is made of compacted hair. 
A species of earthworm in Australia grows up to 10 feet in length. 
A ten-gallon hat holds three-quarters of a gallon. 
A walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking. 
A whale's penis is called a dork. 
According to Genesis 1:20-22 the chicken came before the egg. 
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard. 
After human death, post-mortem rigidity starts in the head and travels to the feet, and leaves the same way it came -- head to toe. 
Albert Brooks's real name is Albert Einstein. 
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never phoned his wife or his mother. They were both deaf. 
Alexander the Great was an epileptic. 
Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery. 
All of the officers in the Confederate army were given copies of Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, to carry with them at all times. Robert E. Lee, among others, believed that the book symbolized their cause. Both revolts were defeated. 
An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain. 
Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups. 
Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats. 
Anteaters prefer termites to ants. 
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute. 
Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them. 
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age. 
Barbie's full name is Barbra Millicent Roberts. 
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33. 
Bela Lugosi died during the filming of "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE". Director Edward D. Wood Jr. used a taller relative who held a cape in front of his face so the audience wouldn't know the difference so he could complete filming. 
Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box. 
Blonde beards grow faster than darker beards. 
Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan. 
Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman. 
Bob May played the Robot on "Lost In Space" (1965-68) and Dick Tufeld was the voice. 
Boris Karloff is the narrator of the seasonal television special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." 
Both Hitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle. 
Boys who have unusual first names are more likely to have mental problems than boys with conventional names. Girls don't seem to have this problem. 
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around. 
Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to SLOW a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm. 
By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand. 
Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on "Scooby-Doo." 
Cat urine glows under a black light. 
Catgut comes from sheep not cats. 
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten. 
Cheryl Ladd (of Charlie's Angels fame) played the voice, both talking and singing, of Josie in the 70s Saturday morning cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats." 
Chop-suey is not a native Chinese dish, it was created in California by Chinese immigrants. 
Chrysler built B-29's that bombed Japan. Mitsubishi built the Zeros that tried to shoot them down. Both companies now build cars in a joint plant call Diamond Star. 
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down -- hence the statement "to get fired." 
Clark Gable used to shower more than 4 times a day. 
Compact discs read from the inside to the outside edge, the reverse of how a record works. 
Crickets hear through their knees. 
Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper. 
Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps. 
Debra Winger was the voice of E.T. 
Despite the hump, a camel's spine is straight. 
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth, and whose shame created the statement for ignominy, "His name is Mudd." 
Dr. Seuss and Kurt Vonnegut went to college together. They were even in the same fraternity, where Seuss decorated the fraternity house walls with drawings of his characters. 
Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead. 
During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance. 
During World War II, W.C. Fields kept US $50,000 in Germany 'in case the little bastard wins'. 
Earth is the only planet not named after a God. 
Elvis had a twin brother named Jesse Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron; in honor of his brother. 
Every photograph of an American atomic bomb detonation was taken by Harold Edgerton. 
Every Swiss citizen is required by law to have a bomb shelter or access to a bomb shelter. 
Evian (the bottled water) spelled backwards is "naive." 
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon. 
Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave. 
Former US President Ulysses S. Grant had the boyhood nickname 'Useless'. 
Four people played Darth Vader: David Prowse was his body, James Earl Jones did the voice, Sebastian Shaw was his face and a fourth person did the breathing.
From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size. 
George Washington grew marijuana in his garden. 
Gerald Ford pardoned Robert E. Lee posthumously of all crimes of treason. 
Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy. The skipper's real name on Gilligan's Island is Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on the radio newscast about the wreck. The Professor's real name was Roy Hinkley, Mary Ann's last name was Summers and Mrs. Howell's maiden name was Wentworth. 
Halloween took place in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois but almost all the cars in the film had California license plates. 
Hara kiri is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting." 
Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by Bayer. 
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt. 
Hindu men believe(d) it to be unluckily to marry a third time. They could avoid misfortune by marrying a tree first. The tree ( his third wife ) was then burnt, freeing him to marry again. 
Human birth control pills work on gorillas. 
Human hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death. 
Hummingbirds can't walk.
If a statue in the park 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 as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. 
If a surgeon in Ancient Egypt lost a patient while performing an operation, his hands were cut off. 
If the population of the Earth continued to increase at its present rate indefinitely, by 3530 A.D. the total mass of human flesh and blood would equal the mass of the Earth. By 6826 A.D. it would equal the mass of the known universe.
If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning before you will die of oxygen deprivation. 
If you can see a rainbow you must have your back to the sun. If you don't, you can't see it. 
If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode. 
If you multiply 526,315,789,473,684,210 with any number you will always find the original number in the result! 
If you pause "Saturday Night Fever" at the "How Deep Is Your Love" rehearsal scene, you will see the camera crew reflected in the dance hall mirror. 
If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom. 
Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all have two penises. 
In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an 'ugly' potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man. 
In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott." 
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak. 
In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it's smiling.) 
In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.' 
In the Andes, time is often measured by how long it takes to smoke a cigarette. 
In the film 'Star Trek : First Contact', when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible .. but New Zealand is missing. 
It is a criminal offence to drive around in a dirty car in Russia. 
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear. 
It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary. 
It takes 8.5 minutes for light to get from the sun to earth. 
It was illegal to sell ET dolls in France because there is a law against selling dolls without human faces. 
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. 
It's rumored that sucking on a copper penny will cause a breath-alyzer to read 0. 
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been over mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since. 
Jacques Cousteau invented scuba gear while in the French resistance during World War II. 
James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger of his right hand. 
Jean-Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original "PREDATOR" in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes. 
Jet lag was once called boat lag, back before jets existed. 
John Larroquette of "Night Court" and "The John Larroquette Show" was the narrator of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." 

Trivia 2 - UAE Timeline

Years in History of The United Arab Emirates:

1760	The Baniyas Tribe finds fresh water on the island of Abu Dhabi and decides to settle there.
1790	The Old Fort is built (also known as the White Fort).
1820	Britain and local rulers sign a treaty to combat piracy along the Gulf coast. From this, and later agreements, the area becomes known as the Trucial Coast.
1892	Deal between the Trucial States and Britain gives Britain control over foreign affairs and each emirate control over internal affairs.
1948	Sheikh Saqr Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi becomes Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah.
1950	Oil is discovered.
1952	The seven emirates form a Trucial Council.
1958	Oil production begins on Das Island.
1961	Abu Dhabi’s first paved road is constructed.
1962	Oil is exported for the first time from Abu Dhabi.
1966	Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan takes over as Ruler of Abu Dhabi and Dubai struck oil.
1968	As independence looms, Bahrain and Qatar join the Trucial States. Differences cause the union to crumble in 1971.
1971	Britain withdraws from the Gulf. The UAE joins the Arab League. Iran occupies the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.
1972	Ras Al Khaimah joins the federation. Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi becomes Ruler of Sharjah. Federal National Council (FNC) is created; it is a 40 member consultative body appointed by the seven rulers.
1973	The UAE launches a single currency, the UAE dirham.
1974	Sheikh Hamad Bin Muhammad Bin Hamad Al Sharqi becomes Ruler of Fujairah.
1981	UAE is a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council; its first summit is held in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Rashid Bin Ahmad Al Mualla becomes Ruler of Umm Al Quwain. Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al Nuaymi becomes Ruler of Ajman.
1986	Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan is re-elected as UAE president for his fourth term. Abu Dhabi Duty Free opens.
1987	Attempted coup in Sharjah. Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi abdicates in favour of his brother after admitting financial mismanagement but is reinstated by the Supreme Council of Rulers.
1990	Sheikh Rashid Bin Said Al Maktoum dies and is succeeded by his son Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as ruler of Dubai and UAE vice-president.
1991	UAE forces join the allies against Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait.
1992	Iran angers the UAE by saying visitors to Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb must have Iranian visas.
1996	Iran fuels the dispute over Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb by building an airport on Abu Musa and a power station on Greater Tunb.
1998	UAE restores diplomatic relations with Iraq; they were severed at the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War.
1999	Gulf Cooperation Council backs the UAE in its dispute with Iran over Greater and Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.
2003	Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s official airline, is launched.
2004	Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan dies and is succeeded as ruler of the UAE by his son, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Emirates Palace Hotel opens in Abu Dhabi.
2005	Sheikh Khalifa announces plans for the UAE's first elections. Half of the members of the consultative Federal National Council will be elected by a limited number of citizens.
2006	Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE PM and vice-president and ruler of Dubai, dies during a visit to Australia. He is succeeded by his brother, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Political storm in the US forces state-owned Dubai Ports World to relinquish control of terminals at six major American ports. Critics of the ports deal feared an increased risk of terrorist attack, saying the UAE was home to two of the 9/11 hijackers. Economic changes announced. They include bringing the days of the official weekend into line with Western nations, introducing laws to reduce the dependence on foreign workers and allowing labourers to form trade unions. First-ever national elections are held. A small number of hand-picked voters choose half of the members of the Federal National Council.
2007	UAE unveils a national development strategy aimed at making it a world leader. Dubai and Qatar become the two biggest shareholders of the London Stock Exchange, the world's third largest stock exchange.

Trivia 1 - Philippine Trivia

Here is my Trivia Pick of the Day. --- Philippine Trivia

World's Largest Breast-feeding
On May 4, 2006, some 3,738 mothers simultaneously breastfed their babies for one minute at the San Andres Sports and Civic Center in Malate, Manila, breaking the old Guinness World Record set by 1,135 mothers in Berkeley, California on August 3, 2002.

World's Largest Kissing Scene
On February 14, 2004, some 5,327 couples in the Philippines kissed simultaneously for 10 seconds, setting a new record for the Guinness Book of World Records. The participants occupied two kilometers of Roxas Boulevard in Manila. The event was organized by toothpaste maker Close Up.

World's Largest Aerobics Class
On February 16, 2003, some 48,188 individuals participated in a simultaneous aerobics class at the Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park in Manila, breaking another Guinness World Record.

World's Largest Strawberry Cake
On March 20, 2004, the people of La Trinidad, Benguet baked a strawberry shortcake, weighing 9,642.45 kilos, to set another Guinness World Record. The shortcake also measure 12.31 feet long, 8.42 feet high and 8.69 feet wide, with an average diameter of 9.18 feet. The cake, which had a total of 42,080 slices, consisted of 2,000 kilos of fresh strawberries, 675 kilos of strawberry jam and 1,550 bottles of strawberry extract for the strawberry butter cake. Other ingredients include 1,500 bars of butter, 1,625 kilos of sugar, 9,000 pieces of eggs, 860 cans of evaporated milk, 1,155 kilos of flour, 20 kilos of baking powder, 10 kilos of salt and 250 liters of whipped cream for the icing.

World's Largest Ricecake
On March 28, 2006, the people of Candon City in Ilocos Sur baked the world's biggest ricecake or calamay weighing 2,547 kilos. This reportedly beat the 2,097-kilo ricecake that the Kamaura Food Co. Ltd. baked in Niigata, Japan on March 1, 2002.

World's Longest Bico
On April 23, 2006, the people of Bauang, La Union produced the world's longest bico (sweetened glutinous rice) measuring 195 meters or 640 feet in length. Some 400 people used 600 coconuts, 1,600 kilos of glutinous rice, 728 pieces of sinacob (hardened brown sugar), 200 gallons of water, and 20,000 banana leaves to prepared the world's largest delicacy.

World's Shortest Actor
Filipino actor Weng Weng was recognized as the shortest adult actor in a leading role. He stood only two feet and nine inches tall.

World's Longest Barbecue
On May 3, 2003, Dagupan City in Pangasinan produced the longest barbecue measuring 1,007.56 meters or 3,305.64 feet in total length.

World's Longest Grill
On April 29, 2006, some 40,000 residents of Alcala, Pangasinan took part in building the world's longest single grill - a three-kilometer grill that spanned across seven villages. This reportedly surpassed the 32.84 meter or 107.7 feet grill put up by the people St. Wendel Werschweiler in Germany on May 4, 2004. The Alcala resident used 21,000 sacks of charcoal to grill what they claimed was the world's longest barbecue, consisting of 4,000 kilos of pork, 20,000 pieces of milkfish. This also reportely beat the 1,007.56 meter or 13,305.54 feet barbecue made by Dagupan City on May 3, 2003.

World's Longest Tilapia Barbecue
On March 5, 2006, the people of San Fernando City in Pampanga grilled 26,000 pieces of tilapia, with total length of 1.8 kilometers. They were cooked using 675 grills set up from the Provincial Capitol to Lazatin Boulevard.

World's Longest Eggplant Grill
On January 11, 2006, the people of Villasis, Pangasinan grilled 3,000 kilograms of eggplants, using 500 grills, each measuring one meter, during the town's first-ever Talong Grill Festival. The event was reportedly just a dry run for a bigger attempt to set a Guinness World Record in 2007.

World's Largest Marathon
On July 24, 2005, some 50,000 individuals participated in what was touted as the world's largest marathon - the 42-kilometer Third Manila Marathon. Athlete Roy Vence clocked two hours, 22 minutes and 18 seconds to lead the pack.

World's Largest Photo Mosaic
Toothpast maker Close Up put up the world's largest photo mosaic along EDSA in Makati City. The structure, measuring 15,000 square feet, consisted of 34,560 photos. It reportedly surpassed the previous record of 6,928 square foot mosaic in the United Kingdom.

World's Longest Noodle
On April 24, the people of Aliaga, Nueva Ecija produced the a six kilometer long strand of "pancit canton", repurtedly the world's longest piece of noodle. The record-breaking pancit, which stretched across seven barangays, used 240 kilos of noodles.

World's Largest Canine Gathering
On May 8, 2005, some 7,000 dogs participated in what was billed as the world's largest simultaenous canine gathering in separate locations in the Philippines. The main venue, the Baywalk along Roxas Boulevard in Manila, drew 3,000 dogs that walked for five kilometers. Another 4,000 dogs reportedly participated in simultaneous marathons across the Philippines. The event sought to surpass the record set in the United Kingdom where some 5,017 dogs participated in a 4.8-kilometer dog “marathon” in 2004.