Illustration by H. Arthur

· A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.

· According to a study, 24 percent of lawns have some sort of lawn ornament.

· In the 1985 Boise, Idaho, mayoral election, there were four write-in votes for Mr. Potato Head.

· The Mall of America, located in Bloomington, Minn., is so big that it can hold 24,336 school buses.

· If done perfectly, any Rubix cube combination can be solved in 17 turns.

· More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.

· In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.

· No piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven times.

· Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

· Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: The heart represents the Church, the spade represents the military, the club represents agriculture and diamonds represent the merchant class.

· The largest ketchup bottle in the world is 170 feet tall and is located in Collinsville, Ill. It was built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Company as a water tower.

· It takes about 63,000 trees to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of The New York Times.