12 Amazing Facts from the New Book Now I Know

Friend-of-the-Floss Dan Lewis writes the daily e-mail "Now I Know," which began in 2010 with 20 subscribers and now boasts nearly 100,000. He's the author of the new book Now I Know: The Revealing Stories Behind the World's Most Interesting Facts, which you can order here. We asked Dan to share a few amazing facts from the book. Enjoy!

1. If a U.S. airline loses your luggage, chances are your stuff will end up for sale in Alabama.

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2. There was a time when buying an obscene amount of french fries was a McDonald's pastime in parts of Japan and Korea.

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3. Smiling makes you happy.

(Think about that for a second.)
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4. If you think your house is haunted, and you live in New York, you are better off telling a would-be buyer—unless you want to give them a potential excuse for voiding a contact of sale.

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5. For $10, you could be part of a NYC lineup. Bonus: The police pay you, not the other way around.

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6. Haiti is the only modern country borne from a slave revolt.

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7. If you are in a certain part of Peru on Christmas Day, bring your fists. Because everyone fights.

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8. During World War II, the BBC banned "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during certain hours because it made factory workers clap a little too much.

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9. Ever wonder why American Express sounds more like a shipping company than a financial institution? That's because originally, it actually was a shipping company. It was founded in the 1850s but didn't get into the financial transactions game until later that century.

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10. From start to finish, it takes about a year to write a book. If you're me, at least.

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11. Pigs can't fly. But they can swim.

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12. The U.S. government has some degree of ownership in the prequel to The Passion of the Christ, if it's ever made.

Now go order your copy of Now I Know: The Revealing Stories Behind the World's Most Interesting Facts!

Images courtesy of Getty unless otherwise noted.