Fun Facts: Fun Facts About Fun Facts

Let us examine the Internet landscape of fun facts. When developing expectations vis-à-vis traditional "Fun Facts" one might expect some levity. Short of that, some useful facts may also be fun. Online fun facts don't necessarily deliver on either count.

Number One in Yahoo search results for the phrase fun facts belongs to fun-facts.com. This very blue (the background color) site offers facts and pseudo-facts for a wide range of topics. Chronologically, the newest fun facts are titled "Global Warming Fun Facts" and were added on December 3, 2009.

Is Global Warming fun?

Twelve facts are provided. Fact #1 asserts that "Temperatures have been cooling since 2002, even as carbon dioxide has continued to rise." That's a little fun, if you own an international goose down parka conglomerate. We don't.

No references or supporting evidence appears. Take it all on faith. The list of Global Warming fun facts offers no annotations. No one takes responsibility. No one attaches their name or reputation. Should fun facts require a reliable source? Somehow that might cause them to become less fun.

Check out FunFunnyFacts.com for a random sampling of amusing facts with less political bent. The home page serves up 8 seemingly random facts that could be labeled as fun or at least mildly engaging. It's not 6 Flags Over Texas, but you won't get sick on the roller-coaster.

13 additional funny fact categories appear at the bottom of the home page. This site makes a bold leap from traditional "fun fact" pages by suggesting that their facts are indeed funny rather than simply fun. Such bravado rarely appears on sites that don't belong to MoveOn.org. We salute the good folks at FunFunnyFacts.com

One category of facts put forth by FunFunnyFacts.com deals with a fellow named Chuck Norris. Evidently Mr. Norris lays claim to a significant list of accomplishments. He verges upon superhero status. Did you know that Chuck Norris does not sleep, rather he waits? This site makes such a claim. Nine additional nuggets may be found on the page dedicated to an amazing fellow.

Munising, Michigan, population 2539^*, maintains a page of fun facts.Visit http://www.munising.com/fun_facts.php for fun facts that would be at home on the school playground:

• The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
• The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
• If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green

This is fun stuff.

By the way, 'Munising' means near the island. Grand Island is located one half mile north in Munising Bay. Consider yourself in possession of yet another fun fact.

^*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munising,_Michigan

Check out DocStoc for volumes of fun facts summarized from other hard-working web sites. Scraping describes the process of borrowing content and presenting it in a different format. Most scraping sites provide links back to originators and some measure of credit where credit is due. Aspects of legality and ethical veracity are left to the reader.

Why take this approach?

Content is king when search engines come calling. Google indexes sites based on complicated algorithms, but words still matter. A scraper hopes to leverage the work of other publishers in order to increase attractiveness to the Google worms, crawlers, and searchers.

Want to publish your own brand of off-beat wacky fun facts? Many FunFacts domains are taken, but a few possibilities remain.A domain is cheap to own and inexpensive to have hosted. You can leave a legacy of fun for friends and relatives. No one will forget you.

Consider the following table before launching into the cutthroat world of fun and funny facts. Competition is high.

Jump into the Fun Facts fray. Register a domain, dream up some facts, and sell some ad space. We all wanna have a little fun!