Now you know...

The infinity sign is properly known as a “lemniscate.”

What a load of crap

The single, largest, cohesive structure made by man is/was the Fresh Kills landfill.

A New way to be patriotic

The phrase “going commando” originated during the Vietnam War, a time when American troops spent extended periods of time in hot, humid jungles. Tight-fitting undergarments reduced ventilation and increased the risk of fungal infections in the groin area.

Yea, that's America for you...

More people watched Elvis’ “Aloha from Hawaii” than the landing on the Moon.

Renaissance man or raving lunatic?

Before returning to the silver screen in Gangs of New York, Oscar winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis was working as a cobbler in Florence, Italy.

Killer cravings

Each year, more people are killed by vending machines than by wolf-attacks.

Not counting any deaths caused by what's in the vending machines...

Just one more reason why wolves are amazing.

But they didn't have spraypaint...

Some of the first examples s of graffiti come from 1st century Pompeii, where messages like “I don’t want to sell my husband” and “Successus was here,” were written on walls.

Not king in Australia

In Australia, Burger King is actually called Hungry Jack's (BK already existed there).

Close, but no cigar!

Creedence Clearwater Revival had seven songs hit #2 on the pop singles chart, but never scored a number one hit.

Odd combination...

Charles Richter, the American scientist who developed the Richter scale, was an avid nudist.

Good Grief!

In the Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty’s real name is Patricia Reichardt

Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. A freckle-faced brunette, she is one of a small group in the strip who lives across town from Charlie Brown and his school friends. Generally displaying the characteristics of a tomboy, she was the first female Peanuts character to wear pants. She made her first appearance on August 22, 1966. The following year, she made her animated debut in the TV special You're in Love, Charlie Brown and began (in the comics) coaching a baseball team that played against Charlie Brown and since has had other adventures with him. She calls Charlie Brown "Chuck" and Lucy "Lucille" and is the only character to do so (although Peppermint Patty's close friend Marcie has been known to call Charlie Brown "Chuck" on occasion, she usually calls him "Charles").

Peppermint Patty's birthday is on October 4, as determined from the October 4, 1970 strip in which Patty's father gives her roses on her birthday. Peppermint Patty has also been called "Priscilla", by Marcie in the TV special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, possibly a reference to Priscilla Mullins, one of the pilgrims.

What about pig-latin?

The third most-used language in the United States is American Sign Language.

Blue whale's got nothin on this

The largest living organism ever found has been discovered in an ancient American forest, in eastern Oregon.

Officially known as Armillaria ostoyae, or the honey mushroom, the fungus is 3.5 miles square miles and takes up 1,665 football fields.

Some real fast feet

Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics — while running the marathon barefoot! He won again four years later, this time wearing shoes.

Sorry. I was exhausted... (Saturday)

There was no fact for yesterday. This is today's fact.

Disney #2 (Thursday)

Cinderella's castle is made of fiberglass, not stone.

Disney #1 (Wednesday)

The Tower of Terror was built just short enough that it doesn't need a blinking light on top to warn airplanes (the designers thought it would ruin the theme of the ride).

Two thumbs up! No, down! I meant down!!

How did Roman emperors order the death of a gladiator?

Thumbs up.

Neither Roman spectators calling for the death of a gladiator, nor Roman emperors authorizing one ever gave a thumbs down. In fact, the Romans didn't use a thumbs down sign at all.

If death was desired, the thumb was stuck up-like a drawn sword. For a loser's life to be spared, the thumb was tucked away inside the closed fist-as with a sheathed weapon. This is expressed in Latin as "pollice compresso favor iudicabatur" (goodwill is decided by the thumb being kept in).

So yes, the movie The Gladiator is incorrect when it shows Commodus giving the thumbs up to spare Maximus. Ridley Scott was aware of the misconception, but did not want to confuse the audience.

Another reason Jersey is pathetic...

In New Jersey and Oregon, pumping your own gas is actually illegal.

What an idiot...

Albert Einstein never learned how to drive a car.

Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2. Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."

Einstein published over 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. In 1999 Time magazine named him the "Person of the Century", and according to Einstein biographer Don Howard, "to the scientifically literate and the public at large, Einstein is synonymous with genius."

BUT...he couldn't drive a car!

That's one big state...

The distance from the eastern tip to the western tip of the state of Texas is greater than the distance from New York City to Chicago.

I guess theirs are much bigger?

Humans and giraffes have the same number of neck vertebrae. (They both have 7)

A Real Split Decision

All of Stonewall Jackson's body is buried in Lexington, VA except for his left arm, which is buried in Fredericksburg, VA. (It was amputated on the battlefield after Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men.)

What was their mascot?

The Pittsburgh Pirates were originally called the Pittsburgh Alleghenys.

Professional baseball has been played in the Pittsburgh area since 1876. The teams of the era were "independents", barnstorming throughout the region and not affiliated with any organized league, though they did have salaries and were run as a business organization. In 1882 the strongest team in the area joined the American Association as a founding member. Their various home fields in the 19th century were in a then-separate city called Allegheny City, across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh. The team was listed as "Allegheny" in the standings, and was sometimes called the "Alleghenys" (not the "Alleghenies") in the same generic way that teams from Boston, New York, and Chicago were sometimes called the "Bostons", the "New Yorks", and the "Chicagos", in the sportswriting style of that era. After five mediocre seasons in the A.A., Pittsburgh became the first A.A. team to switch to the older National League in 1887. At this time, the team renamed itself the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, although Allegheny remained a separate city until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. At that time, owner-manager Horace Phillips sold the team to Dennis McKnight; Phillips stayed on as manager.

In those early days, the club benefited three times from mergers with defunct clubs. The A.A. club picked up a number of players from a defunct Columbus, Ohio, team in 1885.

The Alleghenys were severely crippled during the 1890 season, when nearly all of their stars jumped to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League. With a decimated roster, the team experienced what is still the worst season in franchise history, going 23-113. The battle nearly ruined McKnight, and he was forced to return his franchise to the league. However, almost immediately after this, McKnight joined the backers of the Burghers as a minority owner, which then repurchased the Pittsburgh National League franchise and rechartered it under a different corporate name. They were thus able to legally recover the services of most of the players who had jumped to the upstart league a year earlier.

The new owners also signed several players from American Association teams. One of them was highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer, who had previously played with the A.A.'s Philadelphia Athletics. The Athletics failed to include him on their reserve list, and the Alleghenys picked him up. This led to loud protests by the Athletics, and in an official complaint, an AA official claimed the Alleghenys' actions were "piratical". This incident (which is discussed at some length in The Beer and Whisky League, by David Nemec, 1994) quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A.A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing, they made sport of being denounced for being "piratical" by renaming themselves "the Pirates" for the 1891 season. The nickname was first acknowledged on the team's uniforms in 1912.

Hope you have a good big man...

Early basketball rules called for a jump ball to occur after the scoring of each field goal.

Now that's ambidextrous! (MONDAY)

President James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while simultaneously writing Latin with the other.

Safety...

According to doctors, humans suffer an average of 14 episodes of flatulence per day.

Not so grand after all...

Though it’s not as well-known as the Grand Canyon, Hell’s Canyon is the deepest gorge in the U.S. at nearly 8,000 feet.

Hells Canyon is a ten-mile wide canyon located along the border of eastern Oregon and western Idaho in the United States. It is North America's deepest river gorge at 7,993 feet (2436 m) and the most important feature of Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

The canyon was carved by the waters of the Snake River, which plunges more than a mile below the canyon's west rim on the Oregon side and 8,000 feet below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains range to the east. The area is inaccessible by road.

Artifacts from prehistoric inhabitants as well as the ruins of early 19th century miners and settlers are visible.

Merry go counter-round

As a rule, European carousels rotate clockwise, while American merry-go-rounds spin counterclockwise.

Talk about a high strike zone...

Dock Ellis, a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970s, threw a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. At certain points during the game, Ellis said he couldn’t see the batter or the catcher, and as a result, relied on the
baseball to tell him where to throw it.

No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game. Ellis had been visiting friends in Los Angeles under the impression he had the day off and was still high when his girlfriend told him he had to pitch a game against the Padres that night. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter despite not being able to feel the ball or clearly see the batter or catcher. Ellis claims catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped Ellis to see his target. Ellis walked eight, struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou. During the game, Ellis is reported to have commented to his teammates on the bench between innings that he was pitching a no-hitter, despite the superstition that discourages mentioning a no-hitter while it is in progress. Because the no-hitter was the first game of a double header, Ellis was forced to keep track of the pitch count for the night game.

As Ellis recounted it:

"I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

The incident inspired the song "Dock Ellis" by indie rock singer Barbara Manning, as well as "America's Favorite Pastime" by folk singer Todd Snider.

I'm Extra Loyal!

The phrase “Mr. Mojo Risin’,” repeated by Jim Morrison in the Doors’ song “L.A. Woman,” is an anagram of the vocalist’s name.

The True Land O' Lakes

Canada has more lakes than all other countries combined!

He really killed on the drums...

Jim Gordon, drummer for Derek and the Dominoes, is the only murderer to win a Grammy. He won it for co-writing Layla and in 1983 was convicted of killing is mother with a hammer and knife.

James Beck "Jim" Gordon (born on January 1, 1945) is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of that time and was the drummer of the blues-rock supergroup, Derek & The Dominos. A diagnosed schizophrenic, Gordon murdered his mother in 1983 and was sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison.

My Country tis of thee

The true formal name of the famous statue standing in New York harbor is not ‘The Statue of Liberty”. It was named ” Liberty Enlightening the World” by its sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, who fashioned the statue’s likeness after his mother.

I thought he was a football player...

Big Ben doesn’t refer to a clock; it’s actually the name for the bell inside that famous clock tower.

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north-eastern end of the Palace of Westminster in London. The nickname is often also used (incorrectly) to refer to the clock and the clock tower. This is the world's largest four-faced, chiming clock and the third largest free-standing clock tower in the world. It celebrates its 150th birthday in 2009, during which celebratory events are planned.

The First Gator

President John Quincy Adams kept a pet alligator in the East Room.

Baby-face king

In a standard deck of playing cards, the king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.

And you think mondays last forever...

A Mercurian day is longer than its year.

Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about the axis for every two orbits.

I wouldn't wear pants either if that was my middle name...

Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

Donald Duck is a cartoon character from The Walt Disney Company. Donald is a white anthropomorphic duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no pants (except when he goes swimming). Donald's most famous trait is his easily provoked and occasionally explosive temper.

According to the Disney canon, particularly in the 1942 short Donald Gets Drafted, Donald's full name is Donald Fauntleroy Duck. Donald's birthday is officially recognized as June 9, 1934, the day his debut film, The Wise Little Hen, was released. However, in The Three Caballeros (1944), his birthday is given as simply "Friday the 13th", which is in reference to the bad luck he experiences in almost all his cartoon appearances. Donald's Happy Birthday (short) gives his birthday as March 13.

Donald's voice, one of the most identifiable voices in all of animation, was performed by voice actor Clarence "Ducky" Nash up to 1983. It was largely this semi-intelligible speech that would cement Donald's image into audiences' minds and help fuel both Donald's and Nash's rise to stardom. Since 1985, Donald has been voiced by Tony Anselmo, who was trained by Nash for the role. Donald is a V.I.P. member of the Mickey Mouse Club.

Keep up the good work, Supreme Court...

In 1893, The United States Supreme Court incorrectly ruled that tomatoes are vegetables, not fruits.

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893, was a case in which the United States Supreme Court addressed whether a tomato was classified as a fruit or a vegetable under the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, which required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit. The case was filed as an action by John Nix, John W. Nix, George W. Nix, and Frank W. Nix against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back duties paid under protest. Botanically a tomato is a fruit. The court, however, unanimously ruled in favor of the defendant, that the Tariff Act used the ordinary meaning of the words "fruit" and "vegetable" - where a tomato is classified as a vegetable - not the technical botanical meaning.

The court unanimously decided in favor of the defense and found that the tomato was classified as a vegetable, based on the ways in which it is used, and the popular perception to this end. Justice Horace Gray, writing the opinion for the Court, stated that:

"The passages cited from the dictionaries define the word 'fruit' as the seed of plants, or that part of plants which contains the seed, and especially the juicy, pulpy products of certain plants, covering and containing the seed. These definitions have no tendency to show that tomatoes are 'fruit,' as distinguished from 'vegetables,' in common speech, or within the meaning of the tariff act."

Justice Gray cited several different Supreme Court cases (Brown v. Piper, 91 U.S. 37, 42, and Jones v. U.S., 137 U.S. 202, 216) and stated that when words have acquired any special meaning in trade or commerce the ordinary meaning must be used by the court. In this case dictionaries cannot be admitted as evidence, but only as aids to the memory and understanding of the court. Gray acknowledged that, botanically, tomatoes are classified as a "fruit of the vine", nevertheless they are seen as vegetables because they were usually eaten as a main course instead of being eaten as a dessert. In making his decision, Justice Gray mentioned another case where it had been claimed that beans were seeds — Justice Bradley, in Robertson v. Salomon, 130 U.S. 412, 414, similarly found that though a bean is botanically a seed, in common parlance a bean is seen as a vegetable. While on the subject, Gray clarified the status of the cucumber, squash, pea, and bean.

You sunk my battleship!

It takes seventeen “hits” to sink an opponent’s entire fleet in a game of Battleship.

Surf's Up, Brah!

The Beach Boys were the founders of surf rock; however, only Dennis Wilson knew how to surf, and he died of drowning in 1983.

Where's the mercy rule when you need it?

The 1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game was a college football game played on October 7, 1916 between the Georgia Tech Engineers and the Cumberland College Bulldogs. The game became the most lopsided game in the history of college football, as Georgia Tech was victorious 222–0.

Cumberland College, a school in Lebanon, Tennessee, had actually discontinued its football program before the season but was not allowed to cancel its game against the Engineers. The fact that Cumberland's baseball team had crushed Georgia Tech earlier that year 22-0 (amidst allegations of Cumberland using professionals as ringers) probably accounted for Georgia Tech coach John Heisman's running up the score on the Bulldogs. He insisted on the schools' scheduling agreement, which required Cumberland to pay $3,000 (almost $60,000 in 2008 dollars) to Tech if its football team failed to show. So, George E. Allen (who was elected to serve as Cumberland's football team student manager after first serving as the baseball team student manager) put together a scrub team of 14 men (including some of his Kappa Sigma brothers) to travel to Atlanta as Cumberland's football team.

Cumberland received the opening kickoff and failed to make a first down. After a punt, the Engineers scored on their first play. Cumberland then fumbled on their next play from scrimmage, and a Tech player returned the fumble for a touchdown. The Bulldogs fumbled again on their next play, and it took Tech two runs to score its third touchdown. Cumberland lost nine yards on its next possession, then gave up a fourth touchdown on another two-play Tech drive.

The Engineers led 63–0 after the first quarter and 126–0 at halftime. Tech added 54 more points in the third quarter and 42 in the final period.

Several myths have developed around the game. Some have written that Cumberland did not have a single play that gained yards; in fact, its longest play was a 10-yard pass (on 4th-and-22). One page on Cumberland's website says Georgia Tech scored on every offensive play, but the play-by-play account of the game posted online says otherwise. Another part of Cumberland's webpage states a more likely scenario: that Georgia Tech scored on every one of its drives.

Aloha!

The state fish of Hawaii is the humuhumunukunukuapua’a.

The reef, rectangular, wedge-tail, or Picasso triggerfish, also known by its Hawaiian name, humu­humu­nuku­nuku­āpuaʻa, also spelled Humuhumunukunukuapua'a or just humuhumu for short; meaning "fish with pig's nose"), is one of several species of triggerfish. Classified as Rhinecanthus rectangulus, it is endemic to the salt water coasts of various central and south Pacific Ocean islands. It is often asserted that the Hawaiian name is one of the longest words in the Hawaiian Language and that "the name is longer than the fish."

Ready.....Aim......Victory!!!!

History's shortest war, the Anglo-Zanzibar war, lasted a whopping 38 minutes.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted approximately 40 minutes and is the shortest war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash. The British authorities preferred Hamud bin Muhammed, who was more favourable to them, as Sultan. In accordance with a treaty signed in 1886, a condition for accession to the sultancy was that the candidate obtain the permission of the British Consul, and Khalid had not fulfilled this requirement. The British considered this a casus belli and sent an ultimatum to Khalid demanding that he order his forces to stand down and leave the palace. In response, Khalid called up his palace guard and barricaded himself inside the palace.

The ultimatum expired at 09:00 East Africa Time (EAT) on 27 August, by which time the British had gathered three cruisers, two gunships, 150 marines and sailors and 900 Zanzibaris in the harbour area. The Royal Navy contingent were under the command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson whilst their Zanzibaris were commanded by Brigadier-General Lloyd Mathews of the Zanzibar army. Around 2,800 Zanzibaris defended the palace; most were recruited from the civilian population, but they also included the Sultan's palace guard and several hundred of his servants and slaves. The defenders had several artillery pieces and machine guns which were set in front of the palace sighted at the British ships. A bombardment which was opened at 09:02 set the palace on fire and disabled the defending artillery. A small naval action took place with the British sinking a Zanzibari royal yacht and two smaller vessels, and some shots were fired ineffectually at the pro-British Zanzibari troops as they approached the palace. The flag at the palace was shot down and fire ceased at 09:40.

The Sultan's forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured. Sultan Khalid received asylum in the German consulate before escaping to Tanganyika. The British quickly placed Sultan Hamud in power at the head of a puppet government. The war marked the end of Zanzibar as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence.

Everybody is born right-handed; only the gifted overcome it.

Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon with his left foot first.

7 to 10 percent of the adult population was left-handed.

Left-handedness is more common in males than females.

Exposure to higher rates of testosterone before birth can lead to a left-handed child.

Left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated.

Scouts shake with their left hand, not their right.

Left handers are better at reading mirror-writing than right handers.

Nearly all the characters in the Muppets were left handed.

Using a standard “qwerty” keyboard, and typing with both hands in the conventional manner, the number of words in English that are typed solely with the left hand is in the neighborhood of 3400. Around 450 words are typed solely with the right hand.

In the 1992 U.S. Presidential election, all three major candidates were left-handed.

Migraine Monday!!!!

There is actually a four-point verbal pain scale used to measure the severity of migraines.

Number Name Result
0 no pain
1 mild pain does not interfere with usual activities
2 moderate pain inhibits, but does not wholly prevent usual activities
3 severe pain prevents all activities

MC Huemmer must get 3's pretty frequently...

I guess it's not a politically correct term...

Oddly enough, the word “mafia” is never mentioned in the film version of The Godfather.

Sucks being a bulemic horse...

Because of the angle that the esophagus enters the stomach, horses are physically unable to vomit.

Wait, I think I have a coupon...

Wrigley’s gum was the first product with a bar code to be scanned at a supermarket.

Maybe they just like wearing the kilts...

Bagpipes were invented in Ancient Persia, not Scottland.

Like father ,like son

‘Lincoln Logs’, the popular toy, was invented by John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Good for him!

Charles Curtis, Herbert Hoover’s Vice President was a Kaw Indian. He attained the highest elective office (so far, anyway) of any American Native.

Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was a United States Representative, a longtime Senator from Kansas elected to Senate Majority Leader, as well as the 31st Vice President of the United States. He was the first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the two highest offices in the United States government's executive branch (and the last until Barack Obama's election as president in 2008). Most of Curtis' maternal ancestry was Native American, and he spent years of childhood living with his maternal grandparents on their Kaw reservation.

An attorney, Curtis entered political life early, winning multiple terms starting in 1892 as a Republican to the US House of Representatives from his district in Topeka, Kansas. He was elected to the Senate first by the Kansas legislature, and then by popular vote in 1920 and thereafter. Curtis served in the Senate from 1915 to 1929. His long popularity and connections in Kansas and national politics helped make Curtis a strong leader in the Senate; he marshaled support to be elected as Senate Minority Whip from 1915–1924 and then as Senate Majority Leader from 1925–1929. In these positions he was instrumental in managing legislation and accomplishing Republican national goals.

After the landslide victory of the Republican ticket in 1928, Curtis resigned from the Senate to serve as Vice-president to Herbert Hoover as President.

Maybe the dingo ate their babies...

In Paris, there are more dogs than there are children.

Hand Lo!! I mean.....land lo? hand ho? I'm not as thrunk as you drink i am

The Mayflower landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 because they had run out of beer.

On September 6, 1620, the Mayflower set sail for the New World on one of the boldest voyages in American history. On board were 102 passengers, including fifty-one Separatists and fifty-one “Strangers” – hired hands, indentured servants and others who came for their own reasons. The history books most remember such prominent figures as William Bradford, Edward Winslow and Myles Standish for their leading roles in the adventure. But it was a young hired cooper named John Alden who held perhaps the most important job – building and tending the wooden barrels which carried the Mayflower’s most precious cargo, thousands of gallons of beer that sustained the Pilgrims on their arduous journey to America.

Indeed, beer was the staple drink on board the Mayflower. Unlike water, which quickly spoiled when stored in the hold of ships, beer contained no bacteria, and the then-recent introduction of hops made it keep longer. It was also a terrific source of carbohydrates. Men, women and children drank beer daily, and sailors aboard the Mayflower received a daily ration of a gallon.

After sixty-five grueling days at sea, the Mayflower sighted land along the coast of Cape Cod. The ship headed south towards its planned destination on the Hudson River. But treacherous seas from the Polluck Rip off Monomoy Point forced the Mayflower to turn north and drop anchor at Provincetown. After several weeks of searching unsuccessfully for a suitable harbor on the Cape, the Pilgrims were cold, tired and, most importantly, low on beer. In their words, “we could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer.”

And so it was that on December 20, 1620 the Pilgrims chose the site for their new colony in Plymouth. Set on high ground and protected from the sea by the natural harbor, the plantation was easily defended and provided a commanding view of the bay and Cape Cod. There was also a great deal of land that had already been cleared and planted with corn by the native Patuxets several years earlier. Most important, the plantation contained a “very sweet brook” and “many delicate springs of as good water as may be drunk.”

Bad Pig!

In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.

The Motorless Highway

State highway M-185 on Mackinaw Island, Michigan, is the only state highway in the US that prohibits motorized vehicles.

The first city ordinances banning all motorized vehicles from the island were passed in 1896, with similar state park rules coming by the 1920s. As such, other than a handful of emergency and utility vehicles as well as others by special, limited-time permit, no cars or trucks are allowed on the island and no motorized vehicles appear on M-185. Traffic on this highway is by foot, on horse or by horse-drawn vehicle, or bicycle.The M-185 designation was first assigned to Lakeshore Drive around Mackinac Island before 1936.

Hooray for Being Different!!

The US, Burma and Liberia are the only countries in the world that have not officially adopted the metric system as the standard of measurement.

Many years ago USMA took a survey to determine which countries have officially adopted the metric system. According to that survey, the only other countries besides the U.S. that have not officially adopted the metric system are Liberia (in western Africa) and Burma (also known as Myanmar, in Southeast Asia). These two countries did not have an official policy of converting to metric at the time of the survey.

Most other countries have either used the metric system for many years, or have adopted the metric system within the last 30 or 40 years. (The story of the metric transition in several countries is given in detail farther down on this page.) Nearly every country in the world has taken steps to replace traditional measurements. And, use of the metric system in the U.S. is ever increasing as well, especially linked with the wider acceptance of global standards and global trade which are mostly in metric measurements. Just as English has become the global language of commerce, the metric system has become the global language of measurement. Thus the phrase heard more and more: "Speak in English, and Measure in Metric."

Jamaica was the most recent country to convert to the metric system, having done so in 1998.

Y.A.H.O.O.

Yahoo! is an acronym for “Yet Another Hiearchical Officious Oracle.”

In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo were Electrical Engineering graduate students at Stanford University. In April 1994, "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" was renamed "Yahoo!", for which the official expansion is "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". Filo and Yang said they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, which comes from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Its URL was akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo.

By the end of 1994, Yahoo! had already received one million hits. The Yahoo! domain was created on January 18, 1995. Yang and Filo realized their website had massive business potential, and on March 1, 1995, Yahoo! was incorporated. On April 5, 1995, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital provided Yahoo! with two rounds of venture capital, raising approximately $3 million. On April 12, 1996, Yahoo! had its initial public offering, raising $33.8 million, by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each.

Like many search engines and web directories, Yahoo! diversified into a Web portal. In the late 1990s, Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, Excite and other Web portals were growing rapidly. Web portal providers rushed to acquire companies to expand their range of services, in the hope of increasing the time a user stays at the portal.

On March 8, 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11. Four11's webmail service, Rocketmail, became Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo! also acquired ClassicGames.com and turned it into Yahoo! Games. Yahoo! then acquired direct marketing company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. on October 12. On March 8, 1998, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Pager, an instant messaging service that was renamed Yahoo! Messenger a year later. On January 28, 1999, Yahoo! acquired web hosting provider GeoCities. Another company Yahoo! acquired was eGroups, which became Yahoo! Groups after the acquisition on June 28, 2000.

When acquiring companies, Yahoo! often changed the relevant terms of service. For example, they claimed intellectual property rights for content on their servers, unlike the companies they acquired. As a result, many of the acquisitions were controversial and unpopular with users of the existing services.

What's a vomitorium for?

A "vomitorium," despite being derived from the Latin "vomere," meaning, "to spew forth," isn't the place where the Romans threw up after their meals. It was the name for the entrance or exit from an amphitheater, and is still used in that sense today in some sports stadiums.

The "vomitoria" of the Colosseum in Rome were so well designed that it's said the venue, which seated at least 50,000, could fill in fifteen minutes. (There were eighty entrances at ground level.)

The confusion of the exit with a specialized vomit chamber appears to be a recent error. The earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary finds Alduous Huxley using the term incorrectly in his comic novel, Antic Hay, with the stern comment "erron." However, no Roman writer ever referred to a chamber where gluttons threw up to be able to eat even more, no have any such rooms been found.

Move over pineapple!

Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows coffee...Yea...

Son of a (Insert grawlix here)

Those nonsense symbols ( !#@%& ) used to indicate swearing or cursing in comic strips are called grawlix.

The fact for tomorrow (Monday) will be posted on Tuesday, as I will not have access to a computer tomorrow. Sorry.

Watch out for that bloat of hippopotamuses!!!

Ever see a group of animals and wonder what the correct term for the group was?

Wonder no more! (I limited the list to the more obscure names...)

Mammals
albatross...rookery
apes...troop
asses...drove
baboons...flange
badgers...company
bears...sleuth
buffalo...gang
cats...clowder
elk...gang
ferrets...business
fox...leash
giraffes...tower
goats...tribe
hippopotamuses...bloat
kangaroos...troop
leopards...leap
moles...labor
otters...romp
porcupines...prickle
squirrels...scurry
tigers...streak

Birds
buzzards...wake
cranes...sedge
crows...murder
eagles...convocation
flamingos...stand
hawks...cast
jays...party
larks...exaltation
owls...parliament
rooks...building
ravens...unkindness
storks...mustering
turkeys...rafter

Reptiles/Amphibians
crocodiles...bask
frogs...army
toads...knot
turtles...bale

Fish
herring...army
sharks...shiver
trout...hover

Let's just call it "Lake C"

Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as "Webster Lake", is a lake in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near the Connecticut border and has a surface area of 1,442 acres (5.83 km²).

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, a 45-letter alternative name for this body of water, is often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world. Today, "Webster Lake" may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster), take pride in reeling off the longer versions.

This lake has several alternative names, but Lake Chaubunagungamaug is the name of the lake as recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Nonetheless, many area residents, as well as the official website of the town of Webster, prefer the longer version.

The name comes from the language of the local Nipmuck people and means something close to "fishing place at the boundary". The lake was an important fishing spot on the borders of several tribal territories and lay at the nexus of many local paths of the Great Trail system. For these reasons the lake was often used as a meeting place.

Algonquian-speaking peoples had several different names for the lake as recorded on old maps and historical records. However, all of these were similar in part and had almost the same translation. Among other early names were "Chabanaguncamogue" and "Chaubanagogum".

A map of 1795, showing the town of Dudley, indicated the name as "Chargoggaggoggmanchoggagogg". A survey of the lake done in 1830 lists the name as Chaubunagungamaugg, the older name. The following year, both Dudley and Oxford, which adjoined the lake, filed maps listing the name as "Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg".

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, the extra-long version of the name, is the longest place name in the United States and 6th longest in the world. Its 15 uses of "g" are the most instances of any letter in a word. The name also contains 9 instances of the letter "a" (not including the "a" in "lake"), more than any word in the English language.

This longest name means approximately "Englishmen at Manchaug at the fishing place at the boundary" and was applied in the 19th century when White people built factories in the area. "Manchaug" is derived from the "Monuhchogoks", a group of Nipmuck that lived by the lakeshore. Spelling of the long name varies, even on official signs near the lake. Webster schools use this long form of the name in various capacities.

Larry Daly, editor of The Webster Times, wrote a humorous article in the 1920s about the lake and the disputes concerning the meaning of its name. He proposed the tongue-in-cheek translation "You Fish on Your Side, I Fish on My Side, Nobody Fish in the Middle". It has met with so much popular acceptance that relatively little attention has been paid to the actual translation.

Freedom fries? Not so much...

The “french” in french fries actually describes the way the spuds are sliced, not their country of origin.

Belgians claim that "French" fries are in fact Belgian, but definitive evidence for the origin is difficult to present. Belgian historian Jo Gerard recounts that potatoes were already fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The poor inhabitants of this region allegedly had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals."

Many Americans attribute the dish to France — although in France they are almost exclusively thought of as Belgian — and offer as evidence a notation by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. "Pommes de terre frites à cru, en petites tranches" ("Potatoes deep-fried while raw, in small cuttings") in a manuscript in Thomas Jefferson's hand (circa 1801-1809) and the recipe almost certainly comes from his French chef, Honoré Julien.[4] It is worth noting, though, that France had recently annexed what is now Belgium, and would retain control over it until the Congress of Vienna of 1815 brought it under Dutch control.[15] In addition, from 1813[16] on, recipes for what can be described as French fries, occur in popular American cookbooks. By the late 1850s, one of these mentions the term "French fried potatoes".

Some claim that the dish was invented in Spain, the first European country in which the potato appeared via the New World colonies, and assumes the first appearance to have been as an accompaniment to fish dishes in Galicia, from which it spread to the rest of the country and further to the Spanish Netherlands, more than a century before Belgium was created there.

Professor Paul Ilegems, curator of the Friet-museum in Antwerp, Belgium, believes that Saint Teresa of Ávila fried the first chips, referring also to the tradition of frying in Mediterranean cuisine.

How do moths feel about flames?

They're not attracted to them (or any light for that matter). They are disoriented by them.

Apart from the odd forest fire, artificial light sources have been in existence for an extremely short time in comparison with the age of the relationship between moths and the sun and moon. Many insects use these light sources to navigate by day and night.

Because the moon and sun are a long way away, insects have evolved to expect the light from them to strike their eyes in the same place at different times of day or night, enabling them to calculate how to fly in a straight line.

When people come along with their portable miniature suns and moons and a moth flies by, the light confuses it. It assumes it must somehow be moving in a curved path, because its position in relation to the stationary sun or moon has unexpectedly changed.

The moth then adjusts its course until it sees the light as stationary again. With a light source so close, the only way to do this is to fly around and around it in circles.

Fly like a...New Ford F-150?

The launching mechanism of a carrier ship that helps planes to take off, could throw a pickup truck over a mile.

The primary takeoff assistance comes from the carrier's four catapults, which get the planes up to high speeds in a very short distance. Each catapult consists of two pistons that sit inside two parallel cylinders, each about as long as a football field, positioned under the deck. The pistons each have a metal lug on their tip, which protrudes through a narrow gap along the top of each cylinder. The two lugs extend through rubber flanges, which seal the cylinders, and through a gap in the flight deck, where they attach to a small shuttle.

When the plane is ready to go, the catapult officer opens valves to fill the catapult cylinders with high-pressure steam from the ship's reactors. This steam provides the necessary force to propel the pistons at high speed, slinging the plane forward to generate the necessary lift for takeoff. Initially, the pistons are locked into place, so the cylinders simply build up pressure. The catapult officer carefully monitors the pressure level so it's just right for the particular plane and deck conditions. If the pressure is too low, the plane won't get moving fast enough to take off, and the catapult will throw it into the ocean. If there's too much pressure, the sudden jerk could break the nose gear right off.

When the cylinders are charged to the appropriate pressure level, the pilot blasts the plane's engines. The holdback keeps the plane on the shuttle while the engines generate considerable thrust. The catapult officer releases the pistons, the force causes the holdbacks to release, and the steam pressure slams the shuttle and plane forward. At the end of the catapult, the tow bar pops out of the shuttle, releasing the plane. This totally steam-driven system can rocket a 45,000-pound plane from 0 to 165 miles per hour (a 20,000-kg plane from 0 to 266 kph) in two seconds!

No gum allowed!

In 1992 chewing gum was banned from Singapore. Chewing gum was causing serious maintenance problems in all areas of the city-state. After the 1987 launch of the $5 billion mass transit train system, it was reported that vandals had begun sticking chewing gum on the door sensors of the trains, preventing the doors from functioning properly and causing disruption of train services. Surprisingly, after the ban no known black market for chewing gum ever emerged in Singapore, although some citizens did occasionally manage to smuggle some from Malaysia for their own consumption. In 2004 the ban was revised to recognize the proven health benefits of certain gums that contain calcium lactate to strengthen tooth enamel. The sale of this newly categorized medicinal gum was allowed, as long as it was sold by a dentist or pharmacist, who is required to record the name of the purchaser.

Awfully suspicious...

President Lincoln’s oldest son was on the scene of three presidential assassinations. His father in 1865, Garfield in 1881, and McKinley in 1901.

Do the Dew

Invented in the 1940s in Tennessee, Mountain Dew was meant to be mixed with whisky. In fact, its bottles were designed to look like moonshine, and the original Mountain Dew labels featured outhouses, stills, and hay-chewing yokels.

Vermont is a weird state...(FRIDAY)

The only U.S. state that doesn’t participate in the “Adopt-a-Highway” program is Vermont. Their “billboard-free state” policy prevents citizens from posting the signs necessary for the campaign.

Parcheesi for real! (THURSDAY)

Parcheesi originated as a life-size game—the ruler of India played it in his garden, using pretty young women as the pawns. As for the “home” they moved toward? That was the center of the garden, where the emperor sat.

What's Up Doc?

What color are carrots?

Carrots didn't reveal their inner orangeness for almost five thousand years.

The earliest evidence of carrots being used by humans dates from 3000 BC in Afghanistan. These original carrots were purple on the outside and yellow on the inside. The ancient Greeks and Romans cultivated the vegetable, but mostly for medicinal purposes; the carrot was considered a powerful aphrodisiac.

Galen, the famous second-century Roman physician, on the other hand, recommended carrots for expelling wind. He was the first to identify them as separate from their close relative, the parsnip.

As Arab traders spread carrot seed throughout Asia, Africa, and Arabia, carrots blossomed into different shades of purple, white, yellow, red, green, and even black.

The very first orange carrot was grown in sixteenth century Holland, patriotically bred to match the color of the Dutch Royal House of Orange.

By the seventeenth century, the Dutch were the main European producers of carrots and all modern varieties are descended from their four orange ones: Early Half Long, Late Half Long, Scarlet, and Long Orange.

Carrots can be used to make a sort of natural antifreeze.

Iceland once developed a chocolate-flavored carrot. It was withdrawn after eight months.

A Canary Dog?

What animal are the Canary Islands named after?

Dogs! Canary birds are named after the islands (where they are indigenous), not the other way around.

The archipelago gets its name from the Latin name for the largest of the islands, which the Romans named Insula Canaria (Isle of Dogs) after the large number of dogs there, both wild and domesticated.

The volcano on La Palma in the Canaries is said to have the potential to cause a catastrophic collapse of the western half of the island, creating a tsunami the could cross the Atlantic and hit the Eastern Seaboard of the USA eight hours later with a wave as high as ninety feet.

Canaries are a kind of finch. For centuries, British mining regulations required the keeping of a small bird for gas detection. They were used in this way until 1986, and the wording wasn't removed from the regulation until 1995. The idea was that toxic gases like carbon monoxide and methane killed the birds before they injured the miners. Canaries were favored because they sing a lot, so it's noticeable when they go quiet and fall over.

A diet of red peppers can turn canaries orange!

Baby, it's cold outside!

When did the most recent ice age end?

We're still in it.

Geographers define and ice age as a period in the earth's history when there are polar ice caps. Our current climate is an interglacial period. This doesn't mean "between ice ages." It is used to describe the period within the ice age when the ice retreats because of warmer temperatures.

Our interglacial period started ten thousand years ago, in what we think is the fourth ice age.

When it will end is anyone's guess; ideas about the duration of the interglacial period range from twelve thousand to fifty thousand years (without allowing for man-made influence).

The Little Ice Age, which began in 1500 and lasted 300 years, saw the average temperature in europe drop by one degree Celsius. It also coincided with a period of extremely low sunspot activity, though whether the two are linked is still being argued over.

During this period, the Arctic ice sheet extended so far south that Eskimos are recorded as reaching Scotland on kayaks on six different occasions, and the inhabitants of Orkney had to fight off a disoriented polar bear.

Where do camels come from?

North America!!

The icons of the African and Arabian deserts are American in origin.

Like horses and dogs, camels evolved in the grasslands of America twenty million years ago. In those days, they were more like giraffes or gazelles than the humped beasts of burden we know and love. It wasn't until about four million years ago that they crossed the Bering Land bridge into Asia. (Maybe they passed the Native Americans on their way...)

They became extinct in North America during the last Ice Age and, unlike dogs and horses, haven't made it back.

It is not clear why the north American camel species died out. Climate change is the obvious culprit. More specifically it was have been due to the silica content of grass. As the North American climate got cooler and drier, silica levels in grass tripled. This new super tough grass wore out the teeth of even the toughest rooted grazers and the horses and camels gradually died of starvation, as a result of being unable to chew.

There is also some evidence that these already weakened species, their escape route to Asia blocked by the disappearance of the Bering Land bridge ten thousand years ago, were finished off by human hunters.

Who doesn't love PEZ? (SATURDAY, Jan 24)

Introduced in the late 1960’s, flower-flavored PEZ was designed to appeal to the hippie generation—complete with a groovy, psychedelic dispenser. But even in the decade of free love, no love could be found for the flavor power of flowers.

Who Needs Sleep?

It is, apparently, dangerous to have eight hours of sleep a night.

Adults who sleep eight hours a night or more die younger than those who only sleep six to seven hours a night.

A six-year study involving 1.1 million people published by Professor Daniel Kripke at the University of California in 2004 showed that a significantly larger number of people who slept eight or more hours (or less than four) a night died during the six-year study.

The average Briton gets between six and seven hours of sleep a night, which is one and a half hours less every night than our grandparents did. In 1900 a normal night's sleep was nine hours.

There is evidence to suggest that sleep deprivation leads to short-term loss of IQ, memory, and the ability to reason.

Leonardo da Vinci spent almost half his life sleeping. Like Einstein, he took short naps during the day, in his case, fifteen minutes every four hours. The great lexicographer Dr. Johnson rarely got up before noon. The French philosopher Pascal also spent much of his day dozing in bed.

On the other hand, the famously long-lived elephant sleeps for only two hours a day. Koalas sleep for twenty two hours a day, but only live ten years. Ants sleep for only a few minutes a day.

The average person takes seven minutes to fall asleep. Normal healthy sleepers wake up between fifteen and thirty-five times every night.

Twenty percent of UK motorway accidents are caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

Hydration Nation! (Thursday, January 22)

What shouldn't you drink if you're dehydrated?

Alcohol is fine. So are tea and coffee.

Virtually any fluid will help hydrate you, although you should steer clear of saltwater.

There's no scientific basis for the curious idea that fluids other than water cause dehydration. As a diuretic (something that makes you pass water), caffeine does cause a loss of water, but only a fraction of what you're adding by drinking the coffee. Tea, coffee, squash, and milk are all equally good at replacing fluids.

Ron Maughan, professor of Human Physiology at the University of Aberdeen Medical School, has looked into the effects of alcohol, considered to be another diuretic, and found that, in moderation, it too has little impact on the average person's state of fluid balance.

His results, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, showed that alcoholic drinks with an alcohol content of less than four percent, such as light beer and lager, can be used to stave off dehydration.

......Over me!

Did you know that the Beatles's hit song, "Come Together," is based on Timothy Leary's campaign against Ronald Regan.

In 1969 Timothy Leary intended to run for governor of CA against a B-movie actor named Ronald Regan. One of Leary's battlecries was "Come together," and he asked his friend John Lennon to write a song for it based on the campaign. By the time Lennon got around to it, Leary's campaign was dead (he had to drop out when he was convicted of marijuana possession).

Lennon liked the phrase, though, and decided to build a song around it anyway. He loosely based it on the old Chuck Berry tune, "You Can't Catch Me." He even left in the line, "Here come old flat-top."

"Come together" was one of Lennon's favorite songs: "It's funky, it's bluesy. You can dance to it. I'll buy it!"

Some True Party Animals

It takes one can of hard cider to get a beaver drunk and 480 pints of beer to get an African Elephant drunk.



The facts aren't going to be as long and detailed as they have been thus far anymore. They will be occasionally, but it's just way too much work to come up with such lengthy facts.

Lighthouse Miscellany!

The oldest working lighthouse in the world is Spain's Tower of Hercules, built by the Romans in 20 BC.

The Statue of Liberty was the first American lighthouse to use electricity. It served as a lighthouse until 1902.

The Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Completed around 280 BC, it stood about 450 feet high on the island of Pharos in the Alexandria harbor. Still in operation as late as 1115, it was destroyed by earthquakes in the 1300's.

The oldest American lighthouse is the Boston Light, in Boston's outer harbor. Built in 1716 on Little Brewster Island, it was destroyed by the British in the American Revolution. It was rebuilt in 1783 and still stands today.

Michigan borders no ocean but has more lighthouses than any other state!

Some patron saints!

Barbers......St. Louis
Artists......St. Luke
Cobblers......St. Crispin
Florists......St. Dorothea
Editors......St. John Bosco
Sculptors......St. Claude
Tailors......St. Homobonus
Wine Growers......St. Joseph
Pin Makers......St. Sebastian
Lighthouse Keepers......St. Venerius
Bee Keepers......St. Ambrose
Speleologists......St. Benedict
Gravediggers......St. Anthony
Bakers......St. Honoratus
Domestic Servants......St. Zita
Tax Collectors......St. Matthew
Broadcasters......St. Gabriel
Horses......St. Giles
Dairymaids......St. Brigid
Taxi-drivers......St. Fiacre
Librarians......St. Jerome
Pilgrims......St. James
Singers......St. Cecilia
Invalids......St. Roche
Bricklayers......St. Stephen
Children......St. Nicholas
Miners......St. Barbara
Syphilitics......St. George
Diplomats......St. Gabriel

Letter Facts! (Sat, Jan 17th)

No curved lines: A,E,F,H,I,K,L,M,N,T,V,W,X,Y,Z

No straight lines: C,O,S

No enclosed ares: C,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z

Horizontal Symmetry: B,C,D,E,H,I,K,O,X

Vertical Symmetry: A,H,I,M,O,T,U,V,W,X,Y

Roman Numerals: C,D,I,L,M,V,X

Just Dots in Morse Code: E,H,I,S

Just Dashes in Morse Code: M,O,T

Horizontal and Vertical Symmetry: H,I,O,X

Look the Same Upside Down: H,I,N,O,S,X,Z

Can Be Drawn in One Stroke: B,C,D,E,I,J,L,M,N,O,P,R,S,U,V,W,X

Capitals Which Look Like Lowercase: C,O,P,S,U,V,W,X,Z

Cockney what???

Cockney refers to the working class of London’s East End, traditionally those born within earshot of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in Cheapside. Cockney rhyming slang replaces the intended word with a rhyming couplet, only the first word of which is usually spoken. For example, the word “phone” would be replaced by the phrase “dog and bone,” but in conversation only the word “dog” would be said. This has the advantage of confusing the unitiated, making cockney slang ideal for those, like street traders, who wish to communicate in private.
Some other examples:

Adam and Eve…………Believe
Alan Whiskers…………Knickers
Apples and Pears…………Stairs
Aristotle (Harris) …………Bottle
Artful Dodger…………Lodger
Ascot Races…………Braces
Ball and Chalk…………Walk
Barnaby Rudge…………Judge
Barnet Fair…………Hair
Battlecruiser…………Boozer
Boat Race…………Face
Bob Hope…………Soap
Boracic Lint…………Skint
Brahms and Liszt…………Pissed
Brass Tacks…………Facts
Bread and Honey…………Money
Bricks and Mortar…………Daughter
Bristol City…………Titty
Brown Bread…………Dead
Butcher’s Hook…………Look
Chalfront St Giles…………Piles
Chalk Farm…………Arm
China Plate…………Mate
Cobbler’s Awls…………Balls
Cock and Hen…………Ten
Currant Bun…………Sun
Daisy Roots…………Boots
Darby and Joan…………Moan
Dicky Bird…………Word
Dicky Dirt…………Shirt
Dog and Bone…………Phone
Duke of Kent…………Rent
Dustbin Lid…………Kid
Frog and Toad…………Road
Gregory Peck…………Check
Hampton Wick…………Prick
Hank Marvin…………Starving
Jam Jar…………Car
Jimmy Riddle…………Piddle
Aunt Joanna…………Piano
Khyber Pass…………Ass
Kick and Prance…………Dance
Lady Godiva…………Fiver
Lionel Blairs…………Flares
Loaf of Bread…………Head
Mickey Bliss…………Piss
Mince Pies…………Eyes
Mork and Mindy…………Windy
Mutt and Jeff…………Deaf
North and South…………Mouth
Oily Rag…………Fag
Peckham Rye…………Tie
Pen and Ink…………Stink
Plates of Meat…………Feet
Pony and Trap…………Crap
Porky Pies…………Lies
Richard the 3rd…………Turd
Rosie Lee…………Tea
Rub-a-dub…………Pub
Skin and Blister…………Sister
Sky Rocket…………Pocket
Sweeney Todd…………Flying Squad
Syrup of Figs…………Wigs
Tea Leaf…………Thief
Tit for Tat…………Hat
Tom-foolery…………Jewelry
Trouble and Strife…………Wife
Whistle and Flute…………Suit

We have a creed?

The American creed was written by William Tyler Page in 1917 as an entry for a national competition which would embody the principles of America. The competition, conceived by Henry Sterling Chaplin, the Commissioner of Education in NY, prompted over 3,000 entries. Page’s powerful text was formally adopted as the American Creed by the US House of Representatives in April 1918.

The American Creed:

“I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign states; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

How very sesquipedalian!

Commonly cited as the longest word in English, the 1,185-character-long name for Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain in all its absurdity is:

Acetylseryltrosylserylisoleucylthreonyserylprolyserylglutaminyl
phenylalanylvalylphenylalanylleucylserylserylvalyltryptophylala
nylaspartylprolylisoleucylglutamylleucylleucylasparaginylvalyly
steinylthreonylserylserylleucylglycylasparaginylglutaminylpheny
lalanylglutaminylthreonylglutaminylglutaminyllalanylarginylthre
onylthreonylglutaminylvalylglutaminylglutaminylphenylalanylsery
lglutaminylvalyltryptophyllysylprolylphenyllalanylpolylglutamin
ylserylthreonylvalylarginylphenylanalylprolylglycylaspartylvaly
ltyrosyllysylvalyltyrosylarginyltyrosylasparaginylalanylvalylle
ucylaspartylprolylleucylisoleucylthreonylalanylleucylleucylglyc
ylthreonylphenylalanylaspartylthreonylarginylasparaginylarginyl
isoleucylisoleucylglutamylvalylglutamylasparaginylglutaminylgl
utaminylserylprolylthreonylthreonylalanylglutamylthreonylleucyl
laspartylalanylthreonylarginylarginylvalylaspartylaspartylalany
lthreonylvalylalanylisoleucylarginylserylalanylasparaginylisole
ucylasparaginylleucylvalylasparaginylglutamylleucylvalylarginyl
asparaginylthreonylphenylalanylglutamylserylmethionylserylglycy
lleucylvalyltryptophylthreonylserylalanylprolylalanylserine
(Can you believe Word’s spell-check confirmed this word!!)

Other lovely long words include:

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis- a disease caused by the inhalation of fine particles

Antitransubstantiationalist- one who doubts the validity of transubstantiation

Antidisestablishmentarianism- opposition of those who oppose the link between church and state

Sesquipedalian is an interesting word itself. Said to be coined by Horace, it is a term for words so polysyllabic that they seem a “foot and a half long.”

What is a Sovereign Grand Inspector General?

The highest degree of Freemason.

Freemasonry (a secret fraternal and semi-religious society) claims ancient lineage and is said to employ the following 33-degree hierarchy:

1. Entered Apprentice
2. Fellow Craft
3. Master Mason
4. Secret Master
5. Perfect Master
6. Intimate Secretary
7. Provost and Judge
8. Superintendent of the Building
9. Master Elect of Nine
10. Illustrious Master Elect of Fifteen
11. Sublime Knight, Chevalier Elect
12. Grand Master Architect
13. Royal Arch of Enoch
14. Scottish Knight of Perfection
15. Knight of the Sword and of the East
16. Prince of Jerusalem
17. Knight of the East and West
18. Knight of the Eagle and Pelican/Sovereign Prince Rose Croix of Heredom
19. Grand Pontiff
20. Venerable Grand Master
21. Patriarch Noachite/Prussian Chevalier
22. Prince of Libanus/Royal Hatchet
23. Chief of the Tabernacle
24. Prince of the Tabernacle
25. Chevalier of the Brazen Serpent
26. Prince of Mercy
27. Grand Commander of the Temple
28. Knight of the sun/Prince Adept
29. Knight of St. Andrew
30. Grand Elected Knight Kadosh/Knight of the Black and White Eagle
31. Grand Inspector Inquisitor Commander
32. Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret
33. Sovereign Grand Inspector General


Wouldn’t mind having one of those on my business card…

What color were the original Oompa-Loompas?

In the first edition of Roald Dahl’s classic 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the tireless, loyal Oompa-Loompas were black, not orange.

Dahl described them as a tribe of three thousand black pygmies imported by Mr. Wonka from “the very deepest and darkest part of the African jungle where no white man had ever been before.,” to replace the sacked white workers in his factory. They lived on chocolate, whereas before they had only eaten “beetles, eucalyptus leaves, caterpillars, and the bark of the bong-bong tree.”

Although it was well-received at the time, Dahl’s description of the Oopma-Loompas, with its overtones of slavery, veered dangerously close to racism, and by the early 1970’s hus US publishers, Knopf, insisted on changes. In 1972 a revised edition of the book appeared. Out went the black pygmies, and in came Oompa-Loompas looking like small hippies with “golden-brown hair” and “rosy white skin.”

What was James Bond’s favorite drink?

Not the vodka martini.

A painstaking study of Fleming’s complete oeuvre has shown that James Bond consumed a drink, on average, every seven pages.

Of the 317 drinks consumed in total, his preferred tipple was whisky by a long margin—he drinks 101 in all, among them 58 bourbons and 38 scotches. He’s pretty fond of champagne (thirty glasses), and in one book, You Only Live Twice (1964), which is mostly set in Japan, Bond tries sake. He likes it: he has 35 of them.

Bond only opts for his supposed favorite, vodka martini, 19 times, and he drinks almost as many gin martinis (16).

The famous “shaken, not stirred” line appears for the first time in Diamonds Are Forever (1956) but isn’t used by Bond himself until Dr. No (1959). Sean Connery was the first screen Bond to utter “shaken, not stirred,” in Goldfinger (1964), and it occurs in most of the films thereafter.

What is the best floor of a building to throw a cat from?

Any floor above the seventh!

Higher than the seventh floor, it doesnt really matter how far the cat falls, as long as its oxygen holds out.

Like many small animals, cats have a nonfatal terminal velocity--in cats this is about 60 mph. Once they relax, they orient themselves, spread out, and parachute to the ground like a squirrel.

There are cats on record that have fallen thirty stories or more without ill effects. One cat is known to have survived a forty-six story fall, and there is even evidence of a cat that was deliberately thrown out of a Cessna aircraft at 800 feet that survived.

How many senses does a human being have?

At least nine.

The five senses we all know about—sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch—were first listed by Aristotle, who, while brilliant, often got things wrong. (For example, he taught that we thought with our hearts, that bees were created by the rotting carcasses of bulls, and that flies only had four legs.)

There are four more commonly agreed senses:

1. Thermoception, the sense of heat (or its absence)
2. Equilibrioception—our sense of balance—which is determined by the fluid-containing cavities in the inner ear.
3. Nocieption, the perception of pain from the skin, joints, and body organs. Oddly, this does not include the brain, which has no pain receptors at all. Headaches, regardless of the way it seems, don’t come from inside the brain.
4. Proprioception, or “body awareness.” This is the unconscious knowledge of where our body parts are without being able to see or fell them. For example, close your eyes and waggle your foot in the air. You still know where it is in relation to you.

Every self-respecting neurologist has their own opinion about whether there are more than these nine. Some argue that there are up to twenty-one. What about hunger? Or thirst? The sense of depth, or the sense of meaning, or language? Or the endlessly intriguing subject of synaesthesia, where senses collide and combine so that music can be perceived in color?

What do chameleons do?

They don’t change color to match the background.

Never have; never will. Complete myth. Utter fabrication. Total lie.

They change color as a result of different emotional states. If they happen to match the background, it’s completely coincidental.

Chameleons change color when frightened or picked up or when they beat another chameleon in a fight. They change color when a member of the opposite sex steps into view and they sometimes change color due to fluctuations in either light or temperature.

A chameleon’s skin contains several layers of specialized cells called chromataphores—from Greek chroma (color) and pherin (to carry)—each with different colored pigments. Altering the balance between these layers causes the skin to reflect different kinds of light, making chameleons a kind of walking color wheel.

Oh, and by the way: The Bible forbids the eating of chameleons.

What color is a panther?

There is actually no such thing as a panther.

The word probably comes from the Sanskrit for whitish-yellow, panthera, which was originally applied to the tiger.

The Greeks borrowed the word and adapted it to panthera, meaning “all beasts.” They used it to describe mythological as well as real animals.

In medieval heraldry, the panther was portrayed as a gentle, multicolored beast that had a sweet smell.

Scientifically speaking, all four of the largest species of cat are panthers.

The lion is Panthera leo; the tiger, Panthera tigris; the leopard, Panthera pardus; and the jaguar Panthera onca. They are the only cats that can roar.

The animals that most people think of as panthers are, in fact, either black leopards (in Africa or Asia) or black jaguars (in South America).

Neither animal is completely black. Close examination shows that their spots are still faintly visible on their skin. They carry a genetic mutation that means the black pigment in their fur dominates the orange.

Rare white panthers are in fact albino leopards or jaguars.

In the US, when people say “panther,” they mean a black puma. Despite many unproven reports and supposed sightings, no one has ever found one.

Is a strawberry actually a berry?

No.

A berry is defined as “a fleshy fruit containing several seeds.”

Strictly speaking, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are not berries, but aggregated drupes—a drupe being a fleshy fruit containing a single stone or pit.

Peaches, plums, nectarines, and olives are drupes. The world’s largest drupe is the coconut, which, because of its hard flesh, is called a dry drupe.

Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are called aggregated drupes because each individual fruit is actually a cluster or miniature drupes—the characteristic bumpy bits which make up blackberries and raspberries.

Each one of these drupelets contains a single tiny seed—these are the bits that get stuck in your teeth when you eat a blackberry.

Tomatoes, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, watermelons, kiwi, cucumbers, grapes, passion fruit, papaya, peppers, and bananas are all berries.

Who is America named after?

Not the Italian merchant and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, but Richard Ameryk, a Welshman and wealthy Bristol merchant.

Ameryk was the chief investor in the second transatlantic voyage of John Cabot—the English name of the Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto, whose voyages in 1497 and 1498 laid the groundwork for the later British claim to Canada.

On his little ship Matthew, Cabot reached Labrador in May 1497 and became the first recorded European to set foot on American soil, predating Vespucci by two years. (Vespucci never even set foot in North America.) Cabot mapped the North American coastline from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. As the chief patron of the voyage, Richard Ameryk would have expected discoveries to be named after him. There is a record in the Bristol Calendar for that year: “…on Saint John the Baptist Day (June 24), the land of America was found by the merchants of Bristowe, in a ship of Bristowe called the Mathew,” which clearly suggests this is what happened.

Where do most tigers live?

The United States.

A century ago, there were about 40,000 tigers in India. Now there are between 3,000 and 4,700. Some scientists estimate that there are only between 5,100 and 7,500 wild tigers left on the planet.

On the other hand, there are thought to be 4,000 tigers living in captivity in Texas alone. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association estimates that up to 12,000 tigers are being kept as private pets in the US. Mike Tyson personally owns four of them.

Part of the reason for America’s enormous tiger population relates to legislation. Only nineteen states have banned private ownership of tigers, fifteen require only a license, and sixteen states have no regulation at all.

They’re not particularly expensive, either. A tiger cub will set you back a mere $1,000 while $3,500 will buy you a pair of Bengal Tigers. $15,000 is enough for a fashionable blue-eyed white tiger.

What is the number of the beast?

616.

For 2,000 years, 666 has been the symbol of the dreaded Anti-Christ, who will come to rule the world before the Last Judgment. For many, it’s an unlucky number: even the European Parliament leaves seat number 666 vacant.

The number is from revelation, the last and strangest book in the Bible: “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.”

But it’s a wrong number. In 2005, a new translation of the earliest known copy of the Book of Revelation clearly shows it to be 616 not 666.

The fear of the number 666 is known as Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Fear of the number 616 is Hexakosioidekahexaphobia.

The numbers on a roulette wheel added together come to 666.

How much of the earth is water?

If you said seven tenths or two thirds, you’re wrong.

Seven tenths of the earth’s surface area may be covered with water, but water accounts for less than a fiftieth of one percent of the planet’s mass.

The earth is big—it weighs about 6 million, billion, billion kilograms. Half of this is contained in the lower mantle, the massive semi molten layer that begins 410 miles below the crust. Even on the apparently watery crust, the mass of the land is forty times greater than that of the oceans.

A Japanese experiment reported in 2002 suggests that there may be five times as much water dissolved in the lower mantle than sloshing around the earth’s surface. Even if this is true, water still only accounts for 0.1% of the earth’s mass.

How many nostrils have you got?

Four. Two you can see and two you can’t.

This discovery came from observing how fish breathe. Fish get their oxygen from water. Most of them have two pairs of nostrils, a forward-facing set for letting water in and a pair of “exhaust pipes” for letting it out again.

The question is, if humans evolved from fishes, where did the other pair of nostrils go?

The answer is that they migrated back inside the head to become internal nostrils called choannae—Greek for “funnels.” These connect to the throat and are what allow us to breathe through our noses.