Did You Know? (02/10)
From
Bruno Barbiere@1:2320/100 to
All on Wed May 4 22:57:46 2005
army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
· The little lump of flesh just forward of your ear canal,
right next to your temple, is called a tragus.
· Soweto in South Africa ws derived from SOuth WEst
TOwnship.
· Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to
clean elephants.
· The Andy Griffth Show was the first spin-off in TV
history. It was a spin-off of the Danny Thomas Show.
· Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.
· Walt Disney's autograph bears no resemblance to the
famous Disney logo.
· Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates
that may have blue eyes.
· The United States has never lost a war in which mules
were used.
· The two longest one-syllable words in the English
language are "screeched" and "strengths."
· Great Britain was the first county to issue postage
stamps. Hence, the postage stamps of Britain are the only
stamps in the world not to bear the name of the country of
origin. However, every stamp carries a relief image or a
silhouette of the monarch's head instead.
· Images for picture stamps in the United States are
commissioned by the United States Postal Service Department
of Philatelic Fulfillment.
· Artist Constantino Brumidi fell from the done of the
U.S. Capitol while painting a mural around the rim. He died
four months later.
· Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only
Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.
· There were no squirrels on Nantucket until 1989.
· Cathy Rigby is the only woman to pose nude for Sports
Illustrated. (August 1972)
· Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for
Ronald Reagan.
· Will Clark of the Texas Rangers is a direct descendant
of William Clark of Lewis and Clark.
· When ocean tides are at their highest, they are called
"spring tides." When they are at their lowest, they are call
"neep tides."
· February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not
to have a full moon.
· The last NASCAR driver to serve jail time for running
moonshine was Buddy Arrington.
· Many Japanese golfers carry "hole-in-one" insurance,
because it is traditional in Japan to share one's good luck
by sending gifts to all your friends when you get an "ace."
The price for what the Japanese term an "albatross" can often
reach $10,000.
· The difference between male and female blue crabs is the
design located on their apron (belly.) The male blue crab has
the Washington Monument while the female apron is shaped like
the U.S. Capitol.
· It takes a lobster approxiamately seven years to grow to
be one pound.
· The ridges on the sides of coins are called reeding.
· The lot numbers for the cyanide-tainted Tylenol capsules
scare back in 1982 were MC2880 and 1910MD.
· Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital
without a McDonalds.
· The Roman emperor Caligula made his horse a senator.
· At latitude 60 degrees south you can sail all the way
around the world.
· A Chinese checkerboard has 121 holes.
· The hyoid bone, in your throat, is the only bone in the
body not attached to another bone.
· Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have seven
neck vertebra.
· Sunbeams that shine down through the clouds are called
crespucular rays.
· Very small clouds that look like they have been broken
off of bigger clouds are called scuds.
· On a dewy morning, if you look at your shadow in the
grass, the dew drops shine light back to your eye creating a
halo called a heilgenschein (German for halo.)
· The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the
morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself."
· Giraffes have no vocal cords.
· Joe DiMaggio had more home runs than strikeouts during
his career.
· All porcupines float in water.
· Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
· A-1 Steak Sauce contains both orange peel and raisins.
· Many northern parishes (counties) of Louisiana did not
agree with the Confederate movement. To show their
disapproval, they changed their names. That's why there is a
Union Parish, Jefferson Parish, etc.
· The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many
bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s,
the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring
separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.
· Residents of the island of Lesbos are Lesbosians, rather
than Lesbians. (Of course, lesbians are called lesbians
because Sappho was from Lesbos.)
· The Chinese ideogram for 'trouble' symbolizes 'two women
living under one roof'.
· German has a wood for the peace offerings brought to
your mate when you've committed some conceived slight. This
is "drachenfutter" or dragon's food.
· In Chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are the
same.
· No word in the English language rhymes with month.
· Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their
unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses
down - hence the expression "to get fired."
· The poisonous copperhead smells likefresh cut cucumbers.
· In Disney's "Fantasia", the Sorcerer's name is "Yensid"
(Disney backwards.)
· The smallest mushroom's name is "Hop-low."
· Anne Boleyn had six fingernails on one hand.
· Mustard gas was invented in the McKinley Building on the
American University campus. Additionally, preliminary work on
the Manhattan Project was done in that building. The
government used the McKinley Building because of its unusual
archticture. If there would be any type of large explosion
inside the building, the building would implode onto itself,
containing any lethal gas or nuclear material. The building
now houses the Physics Department.
· When angered, the ears of Tazmanian devils turn a
pinkish-red.
· The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six
inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
· The naval rank of "Admiral" is derived from the Arabic
phrase "amir al bahr", which means "lord of the sea".
· The Les Nessman character on the TV series WKRP in
Cincinnati wore a band-aid in every episode. Either on
himself, his glasses, or his clothing.
· A coat hanger is 44 inches long if straightened
· The roads on the island of Guam are made with coral.
Guam has no sand. The sand on the beaches is actually ground
coral. When concrete is mixed, the coral sand is used instead
of importing regular sand from thousands of miles away.
· Mt. Vernon Washington grows more tulips than the entire
country of Holland.
· Jamie Farr (who played Klinger on M*A*S*H) was the only
member of the cast who actually served as a soldier in the
Korean war.
· The southern most city in the United States is Na'alehu,
Hawaii.
· Alaska was the only part of the United States that was
invaded by the Japanese during WWII. The territory was the
island of Adak in the Aleutian Chain.
· Woodward Ave in Detroit, Michigan carries the
designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road
anywhere.
· Michigan was the first state to plow it's roads and the
first to adopt a yellow dividing line.
· Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
· The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119.
· The shortest verse in the Bible is "Jesus wept."
· Way back when they were using marble columns, the people
selling the columns would carve out the centers and fill it
with wax.So the people buying them started asking "Is it
without wax?" Or in other words "Are you sincere?"
· Zaire is the world leader in cobalt mining, producing
two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply.
· No modern language has a true concept of "I am." It is
always used linked with are in reference of another verb.
· Little known Cathedral Caverns near Grant, Alabama has
the world's largest cave opening, the largest stalagmite
(Goliath), and the largest stalagmite forest in the World.
· The only person ever to decline a Pulitzer Prize for
Fiction was Sinclair Lewis for his book Arrowsmith.
· Maine is the only state that borders on only one state.
· There are almost twice as many people in Rhode Island
than there are in Alaska.
· Kudzu is not indigenous to the South, but in that
climate it can grow up to six inches a day.
· Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
· The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.'
· The word 'pixel' is a contraction of either 'picture
cell' or 'picture element.'
· Ralph Lauren's original name was Ralph Lifshitz.
· Bananas do not grow on trees, but on rhizomes.
· Astronauts in the Space Shuttle are weightless not
because there is no gravity in space, but because they are in
free fall around the Earth.
· St. Augustine was the first major proponent of the
"missionary" position.
· Lizzie Borden was acquitted.
· Alexander Hamilton was shot by Aaron Burr in the groin.
· Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every
Dewey-decimal category.
· Roger Ebert is the only film critic to have ever won the
Pulitzer prize.
· A scholar who studies the Marquis de Sade is called a
Sadian, not a Sadist (of course).
· Tribeca in Manhattan stands for TRIangle BElow CAnal
street. Soho stands for SOuth of HOuston street.
· Columbia University is the second largest landowner in
New York City, after the Catholic Church.
· Theworld's largest wine cask is in Heidleberg, Germany.
· Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an
aligator while he hosted "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
· Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
· Seven Olympic gold medal winners eventually went on to
win the Heavyweight Championship of the World
· Kerimski Church in Finland is world's biggest church
made of wood.The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a
· projected death toll while it was being built. No one
died. The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels
arranged in sixteen rows.
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