Refresh for new random facts
1. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
2. Believe it or not, the shopping cart wasn't invented until 1937, by Oklahoma grocery store owner Sylvan Goldman, who had only an 8th grade education. The design was based on a wooden folding chair.
3. The top three most valuable brands in the world in order of their value are Marlboro, Coca Cola and Budweiser.
4. Pepsi derives its name from the treatment of "dyspepsia", an intestinal ailment.
5. William Randolph Hearst's father struck it rich mining silver and gold in Nevada in 1859 and had the largest private mining firm in the U.S. The HBO show Deadwood was based on one of his mines.
6. David McConnell named his company Avon after the birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford on Avon.
7. Visa was originally called BankAmericard, a card offered by Bank of America in 1958 in California.
8. Henry Ford invented the charcoal briquettes that are commonly used by the grilling enthusiasts of today, to make use of scrap wood left over in the manufacture of the Model T.
9. The original 12 stocks on the Dow Jones were cotton oil, sugar, tobacco, gas, cattle, electric, gas, lead, coal, leather, utility, and rubber companies.
10. Fur trader John Jacob Astor would be worth around $100 Billion in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
