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12月18日 Taken from: Vital Statastics By Paul Grobman A Few Facts About
Santa Clause and Christmas
 Houses Santa has to visit on Christmas Eve: 202,061,000
--"Our calculations were inspired by Roger Highfield's book the Physics of Christmas. We start with the total number of the world's children. Subtract Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians. Exclude Orthodox Christian kids because they celebrate Christmas on January 6. Divide by the average number of children per household. Assume at least 10% of the remaining are naughty."
Amount the average American spent on Christmas presents in 2004: $730
Year the celebration of Christmas became illegal in Massachusetts: 1659
Year it again became legal: 1681
--"The Puritans believed that the day Christ was born should be celebrated not with gifts and feasts, but with prayer and hard work. In 1659, a law was passed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreeing that 'anybody who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way, any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings."
First store Santas:
--Unknown (1841): In 1841, a Philadelphia store owner named J.W. Parkinson attracted thousands of children to his store by having a Santa Claus in the act of descending the store's chimney from his roof. However, it is unclear whether this Santa was actually real.
--James Edgar (1890): In 1890, Edgar, the owner of a dry goods store in Brockton, Mass., had a costume made up in Boston and, with his natural white hair and beard, walked through his aisles dressed as Santa. It was the first time children ever came face-to-face with the Christmas icon.
Number of Americans who've had their name legally changed to Santa Claus: 4
Average weight of a mall santa: 218 pounds
Odds that a store santa has a misdemeanor or felony conviction: 7%
First Christmas card: 1843
--"Up through the mid 19th century, it was customary to send letters to friends and relatives at Christmas. In the fall of 1843, however, Sir Henry Cole was too busy to write individual letters, and commissioned J.C. Horsely to design a Christmas card for him which bore the now familiar phrase 'A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.' Those not sent by Cole were offered for sale. The first Christmas card in America was sent out in 1850 by a store in Albany called Pease's Great Variety.
 12月6日 Tis The Time For Shopping Christmas is time for giving. So here are a few random facts about shopping I've borrowed from the book
Vital Statistics by Paul Grobman
 Percentage of purchases in America made by women: 85% Odds that a woman says she enjoys shopping: 4 in 10Odds that a man enjoys shopping: 2 in 10Number of Americans afflicted with Oniomania (Compulsive Shopping Disorder): 15 millionStrangest purchase by a compulsive shopper: 2,000 wrenchesFirsts Suburban shopping center in America: Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO., 1922First indoor shopping mall: Southdale Center, Edina, Minn., 1956Percentage of American shoppers who go to their right when entering a store: 85%Average time a woman spends in a store if she's with another woman: 8 minutes, 15 secondsIf she's with her children: 7 minutes, 19 secondsIf she's with a man: 4 minutes, 41 secondsOldest store in America: London Harness, Boston, Mass. (opened in 1776)Oldest store in America still operated by the same family: Hildreth's Department Store, Southhampton, N.Y. (opened in 1842)Number of shopping centers in the U.S.: 47,835Number of malls: 1,130Total square footage of retail space in the U.S.: 5.8 billion square feetOdds that a man will buy something he tries on (6 in 10); odds that woman will do so (1 in 4)Percentage of women who decide which clothes to buy by themselves (60%); Percentage of men who do so (47%)Percentage of men's clothing purchases made by women in 1985 (60%); Percentage of men's clothing purchases that are made by women today (30%)Percentage of shopping purchases made with cash in 1995: 60%Percentage of shopping purchases made with cash in 2003: 32%Items recently offered for sale on ebay:1. A fully fuctional kidney: on Sept. 2, 1999, after six days of bidding, the price of the kidney had ballooned to over $5 million. Ebay put a stop to the sale because it is a federal offense to traffic in human organs.
2. Chunks of debris from the World Trade Center: went up on the auction block within minutes of the attack, though ebay was quick to remove the listings.
3. Used ladies undergarments: (particularly panties) could fetch up to $30 and remained a thriving niche market on the site before recently being banned.
4. Navel lint: sold direct from a woman' belly button for $1.
5. Arnold Schwarzenegger's used cough drop: was offered in 2004 under the header "Schwarzenegger's DNA" with a starting bid of $500. Ebay yanked the item after claiming it violated the site's prohibition against selling body parts.
11月11日 A Compendium Of Indispensable Facts by Ben Horslen Serendipitous
Inventions
  Black Rubber Tires: Rubber car tires were originally white-- until the Goodrich tire company added black pigment so their tires wouldn't look dirty. Surprisingly, the black carbon pigment made the tires more durable. Soon all tires were black.
 Chewing Gum: While experimenting with ways of using the traditional Mexican gum chicle as a substitute for rubber in toys, boots, and clothes, inventer Thomas Adams absentmindedly popped a piece in his mouth and was suddenly struck by the possibility of adding artificial flavor.
 Potato Chips: IN 1853 Native American chef George Crum, working in Saratoga Springs, New York, was frustrated by a guest who kept sending back is french fried potatoes, saying they were too thick. In a fit of pique, Crum cut them into wafer-thin strips and fried them. They became a house specialty.
 Microwave Oven: Microwave generators called magnetrons were invented during World War II by scientists working on radar. Later, scientist Percy LeBaron Spencer discovered that microwaves from a magnatron had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. The first commercial microwave oven was on the market by 1954.
 Post-It Notes: While working on chemical formulae for stronger glues, Spencer Silver, a reseacher for the 3M office-equipment company, accidentally discovered a super-weak glue. It was dismissed as useless, until a colleague, Arthur Fry, thought of applying strips of it to paper.
 Safety Glass: Discovered by French scientist Edouard Benedictus in 1903 after he knocked a bottle of laboratory chemicals off a shelf and found the glass did not shatter-- the cellulose nitrate within the bottle had coated the inside and prevented it from breaking. 11月2日 It's a what!? *Rock man RISE! I COMMAND YOU!*
Things That Are Not What They Seem.
 Rice Paper contains not a grain of rice.French fries originated in Belgium, not France.Great Danes come from Germany, not Denmark.Ten-gallon hats hold only about 6 pints of water.Koala bears aren't bears, they're marsupials.Mountain goats aren't goats, they're small antelopes.Fireflies aren't flies, they're beetles.The funny bone isn't a bone, it's a nerve.Jackrabbits aren't rabbits, they're hares.Shooting stars are meteors.Prairie dogs aren't dogs, they're rodents.Guinea pigs aren't pigs, nor are they from Guinea: they're South American rodents.Catgut isn't made from cats, it's made from sheep.Lead pencils contain no lead, only graphite.Glowworms aren't worms, they're beetles.The horned toad isn't a toad, it's a lizard.Bombay duck isn't duck, it's dried fish.Turkish baths originated in ancient Rome, not in Turkey.Silkworms aren't worms, they're caterpillars.Peanuts aren't nuts, they're legumes. This isn't a venus flytrap, IT'S A MAN EATING PLANT MONSTER!! *heh heh*All facts taken from The Book of Perfectly Useless Information by: Mitchell Symons 10月27日 I've got a bee in my bonnet!! Nooooo......And Now It's Time For:
 Favorite Sayings:
Many everyday phrases have come down through the generations to become accepted parts of our day-to-day language. But where did they come from in the first place?
 A BEE IN ONE'S BONNET:
This curious phrase was first documented in 1845 in the writings of Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) but, prior to this, 16th-century speakers would have referred to "maggots in the head."
 COUCH POTATO:
This descriptive term for the TV generation was first coined by American Tom Iacino and then used as a visual joke by fellow American Robert Armstrong in a 1976 cartoon.
 HUE AND CRY:
This old phrase was first adapted from the 13th-century French hu e cri. The French word huer means to make a hooting noise. It was once used when in pursuit of a suspect.
 RED HERRING:
Herrings were once used to train hunting dogs. The well-trained dog would continue following the scent of the fox it was chasing, rather than switching to the false trail of the herring. The fish was used because of its strong smell. Nowadays, a red herring refers to any distracting, ultimatly unimportant issue or fact.
 STEAL SOMEONE'S THUNDER:
An 18th-century playwright, John Dennis (1657-1734), devised a method of imitating the sound of thunder for one of his plays. He later heard the sound used in another production-not his own- and shouted: "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder."
Taken from A Compendium of Indispensable Facts by Ben Horslen. Who was that masked man??Comic-Book Superheroes
And Their Everyday Identities
 Spiderman (Peter Parker)
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Superman (Clark Kent)
Robin (Dick Grayson)
The Green Hornet (Britt Reid)
Supergirl (Linda Lee Danvers)
Batgirl (Babs Gordon)
The Incredible Hulk (Bruce Banner)
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson)
Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)
I Have A Tongue Print??
10月26日 You mean I'm only Human?Human Body Facts
  Number of hairs shed in a year: 30,000Brain's average weight: 3 lb (1.4 kg)Hardest substance: tooth enamelAmount of dead skin shed in a year: 9 lb (4 kg)Number of times a heart beats per year: 36.5 millionTime it takes for blood to circulate: 23 secondsAverage stomach capacity: 2-2 1/2 pints (0.94-1.8 liters)Length fingernails grow in a year: 2 in (5 cm)Biggest muscle: Gluteus maximus (in the buttock)Smallest cell (sperm)Largest cell (ovum)Water as percentage of body weight: 50-60%Number of sweat glands: 2.5 millionBiggest bone: thigh bone (femur)Smallest bone: Stapes (in the middle ear)Number of bones in each foot: 26
Animal Facts
Besides humans, the only animal that can stand on its head is the elephant.
There isn't a single referance to a cat in the bible.
Nearly all polar bears are left-handed.
A newborn panda is smaller than a mouse.
The two heads of a freak two-headed snake will fight over food- despite sharing the same stomach.
The armadillo is the only animal animal-apart from humans-that can catch leprosy.
The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.
Some snakes can live up to a year without eating.
A beaver can chop down more than 200 trees in a year.
Besides humans, the only animals that can suffer sunburn are pigs and horses.
Giraffes can live without water for longer than camels can.
Anteaters can stick out there tongues up to 160 times a minute. 10月25日 CandyAll facts were taken from the book Vital Statistics by Paul Grobman.
 Candy
candy: $84
1. Halloween 2. Easter 3. Christmas 4. Valentine's Day
10月23日 Factoids Around The
World
 Disney World is bigger than the world's 5 smallest countries.The Danish flag--dating back to the thirteenth century--is the world's oldest unchanged national flagThere is a city called Rome in every continent.There are 3 American towns named Santa Claus.Istanbul is the only city in the world to be in 2 continents. (Europe and Asia)Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.All the continents are wider in the north than in south.You could drive a car around the world 4 times with the amount of fuel in a jumbo jet.China has more English speakers than the United States does.Antarctica is only continent without snakes or reptiles.Q is the only letter that doesn't appear in the names of any of the fifty states of the U.S. |
Volleyball is the most popular sport at nudist camps.
You could drive a car around the world 4 times with the amount of fuel in a jumbo jet.
On a square inch of our skin, there are 20 million microscopic animals.
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