The longest game of MONOPOLY® lasted 70 days, and there have been other unusual games that have set records. Parker Brothers initially rejected the game, but it became popular after inventor Charles B. Darrow sold 5,000 hand-made editions. Over 500 million people have played MONOPOLY®. MONOPOLY® is a game that can take a long time […]
The longest professional tennis match was 11 hours and 5 minutes, between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010. Isner won with a final score of 70-68 in the fifth set, and served 112 aces. Average men’s matches are three hours, and women’s are two. Tennis dates back to the 12th century. The […]
Operation Christmas Drop, the longest running airdrop training mission in the world, delivers critical supplies to remote Micronesian islands via a C-130 Super Hercules military transport aircraft. The program also strengthens community ties and is now a joint effort of the US, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Micronesia has close ties to the US and […]
Portugal has had the same border with Spain since the Treaty of Alcanizes in AD 1297. San Marino is the oldest settled country in Europe, while Kosovo is the most recent. Vatican City is the smallest country in Europe, and Gibraltar has the densest population. Portugal is the European country whose borders have remained officially […]
Canada has the world’s longest coastline at 56,453 miles, accounting for 15% of the world’s coastline. Landlocked countries like Austria and Kazakhstan have borders instead of coasts. The US has coastlines on two oceans and borders with Canada and Mexico. There are 44 landlocked countries, including Lichtenstein and Uzbekistan. Canada has the longest coastline of […]
The Philippines has the world’s longest Christmas season, starting in September and ending in January. The country celebrates with parades, parties, music, and colorful displays. Expats send over $30 billion in remittances home for the holidays, and traders sell thousands of pigs for the classic roast pork lechon. Celebrations last until January 6 or the […]
Determining the length of a river can be difficult due to river systems and tributaries. The Nile is the longest river passing through ten countries, while the Amazon carries the most water. Australia’s longest river, the Murray, is in the top 20 when combined with other rivers. Only one of the top 20 longest rivers […]
US Route 20 in Island Park, Idaho is America’s longest highway at 33 miles. The city was incorporated in 1947 to sell liquor outside city limits. The Federal-Aid Highway Act allowed for 41,000 miles of interstate highways and there are 250 million cars on American roads. Interstate highways are named based on their direction. The […]
Smokey Bear was created in 1944 to prevent wildfires during World War II. The Forest Service used posters and slogans to encourage people to prevent fires and win the war. The first Smokey Bear poster was created by artist Albert Staehle and a bear rescued during a wildfire was named after the mascot. Smokey Bear […]
The US’s longest war was in Afghanistan for over 10 years, followed by the Iraq War for 8 years and 9 months. The two wars combined were three years longer than the US’s involvement in WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam War combined. The US has been involved in about 12 major wars in […]
A filibuster is a tactic used to delay or stop a vote on an issue in a legislative body. In the US Senate, a person can speak indefinitely unless 60 members of the Senate table a motion to stop them. The longest filibuster in US history was by South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who spoke […]
“Meet the Press” is the longest-running TV series in the US and the world, airing since November 6, 1947. Other long-running US shows include “Guiding Light,” “The Price is Right,” and “The Simpsons.” Japan’s “Sazae-San” and Ireland’s “The Late Late Show” are also long-running. In the UK, “Dr Who” and “Blue Peter” have been on […]
The longest left-hand-only English words on a QWERTY keyboard are around 12 letters, including “hostess” and “reverberated.” Keyboard layouts reflect letter frequency in a language. Left-hand words can be useful for passwords, while right-hand words are limited. Creating a list of the longest words that can be typed on a keyboard with only the left […]
The World’s Longest Yard Sale takes place over 4 days in August along a 650-mile stretch of US Route 127. It was started in 1987 to reintroduce America to its back streets and small towns. Yard sales are popular in the US and are conducted for various reasons, including raising extra cash and clearing space […]
The longest tapeworm found in a human was 82 feet long and caused by consuming raw or undercooked meat. Tapeworms can live in their host for over 25 years and can cause digestive problems or bacterial infections. 20 million people worldwide are infected with tapeworms. The longest tapeworm ever found inside a human was one […]
Charles Osborne had hiccups for 68 years, hiccuping 20 to 40 times a minute. It is believed he damaged the area of the brainstem responsible for controlling the spasms. His hiccups stopped a year before his death at 97, and doctors couldn’t explain why. Hiccups are an evolutionary mechanism and most remedies disrupt breathing patterns. […]
“Stewardess” is the longest common word typed with only the left hand. “Aftercataracs” and “tesseradecades” are the longest obscure words at 14 characters. “Lollipop” is the longest word typed with only the right hand, but “Johnny-Jump-Up” is the longest with dashes. Other oddities include “leptotrichosis” for alternating hands, “bookkeeping” and “bookkeeper” for consecutive double letters, […]
The longest word in the English language is disputed, with many candidates, most not in common use. The current longest word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, but other longer words exist, including a Greek term and a word created by James Joyce. The longest word ever created has over two million letters and is not listed in dictionaries. […]
