JUNE

Why do we say that you're encroaching when you trespass on someone's space?

"Posted: No hunting or fishing." On privately owned country property, this is a common sign. Likewise, we all have our own private space, with psychic as well as physical boundaries. We warn off encroachers, if not with a sign then with body language, or a look.

Why "encroachers?" Because they want to get their hooks in us. What? Croc or croche was French for "hook." Beginning that word with "en" gave it the meaning of taking or hooking something not belonging to you. Over time the meaning shaded to that of trespassing.

The same root gives us crochet, meaning a small hook. But if anyone tells you that the word "hooker" also comes from this root, tell 'em that's a big croc.

Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE Origins by William and Mary Morris



Precocious?

American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne's son Julian, also a writer, was often mistaken for his father. One time a woman who just had to tell Nathaniel Hawthorne how much she had enjoyed his work, 'The Scarlet Letter,' mistakenly stopped Julian on the street. Julian just shrugged it off, informing the startled, and now even more appreciative fan that he was only four years old when it was written.

Source: THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES



Didja Know...
New Yorkers spend the most time each day commuting to work, an average of 38 minutes each way?
(Source: MSNBC)

How come your heart muscle doesn't get charley-horsed from all that exertion?

If you're pumping iron, your heart is pumping blood, big time. Even walking fast stresses the old ticker. Likewise a little romantic activity. So why don't you wake up the next morning with aches and pains where it would really scare you?

For one thing, your heart muscle is not like your other muscles. The part that turns food into energy is a greater percentage of cardiac muscle than of the rest of your muscles. Your heart also contracts more slowly than other muscles, with a smoother, less taxing motion. Each of these factors decreases the amount of stress on heart muscle, lessening fatigue.

Nevertheless, our hearts ache, break, burn, get stolen, are given away, end up in our mouths and often skip a beat. But just try to get your HMO to approve a referral to a specialist for any of these conditions.

Source: Why Things Are & Why They Aren't by Joel Achenbach



The electorate is always right - dead right.

In the 1880s, about 500,000 men in England were eligible to vote more than once because of their economic and social status. For example, university graduates got an extra vote.

We have never been quite so generous in America. However, we have been remarkably inclusive, as in Chicago, where even the dead can vote.

Source: ISAAC ASIMOV'S BOOK OF FACTS

Why do soldiers wear their hair so short?

It's bad enough to get shot at without having a bad hair day on top of everything else. But mostly soldiers wear their hair short because they're ordered to.

Ok, there's a historic reason. Look at pictures of U. S. soldiers in the Civil War. They look like hippies. Now look at our men in uniform after the Spanish-American War at the beginning of the 20th century. Crew cuts! What happened? Fighting in the tropics, that's what. It went beyond comfort. Dare I be blunt? Cooties. It's easier to avoid such distractions with short hair, which facilitates keeping the scalp clean. It also turned out to be easier to treat scalp wounds without long hair to complicate matters.

Why not, then, specify complete baldness? Bald soldiers could send signals by reflecting sunlight off their skulls. They would certainly be using their heads.

Source: EVER WONDER WHY? By Douglas B. Smith



Spelling it out for you

Etymologists credit Shakespeare with having used anywhere from a few hundred to as many as 10,000 words and phrases for the first time in English in print, including 'hobnob' and 'leapfrog.'

I envy him. If you're using a word in print for the first time, nobody knows if you're spelling it correctly.

Source: JUST CURIOUS JEEVES by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett



Didja Know...
The official currency of Afghanistan is (drum-roll, please) the Afghani
(Source: The New York Daily News)

Is the real roadrunner anything like the creature in the cartoon?

The roadrunner's real-life behavior is every bit as eccentric as its animated counterpart in reel life. No wonder that the roadrunner also goes by the name of the "ground cuckoo."

The roadrunner builds its nest in a cactus and will dine on a snake by first banging it against a rock and then wolfing it down whole. The two foot-long roadrunner, half of which is tail, actually plays chicken on the roads of its southwestern habitat, running ahead of speeding cars and then veering off at the last minute. It flies when it has to, but much prefers to run at up to 15 miles an hour, usually without Nikes.

But don't expect to hear it go "meep, meep," as the celluloid version does. More appropriate for a member of the cuckoo family, it goes, "coo, coo."

Source: THE WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA



Welcome

The world's first brothel – open for business in 3000 BC -- was in ancient Sumer, in the city of Erech. The house was called Ka-Kum. Honest.

The first used car dealership opened in London in 1897. Its salesmen must have been good -- how many used cars could there have been then? They probably could have sold you London Bridge just before it fell down.

Source: THE BOOK OF ANSWERS



Didja Know...
Only 38% of all energy used by Americans is generated from domestic oil
(Source: Business Week)

Why do say that a politician talking a bill to death is 'filibustering?'

Filibustering's etymology is rooted in the nature of politicians: it has to do with piracy. Pirates were also called freebooters, from the Dutch "vrij," or free, and "buit," or boot. "Filibuster" derived from that word, came into English via French (filibustier) and then Spanish (filibustero).

In the 19th century, Americans applied the word to the extralegal behavior of their countrymen who incited revolutions in Latin America. This filibustering by private citizens independent of the U. S. government was accomplished by stirring up trouble through incendiary speeches. Since Congress does many things backwards, it shouldn't surprise us that the word came to mean almost the opposite in legislative terms. It described the process of preventing action on a bill – pouring cold water on it -- through endless talk that couldn't be stopped as long as the talker kept talking. It was legislative death by lethal interjection.

Source: WHO PUT THE BUTTER IN BUTTERFLY? By David Feldman



Boogie with your bow-wow

In the summer of 2001, Hershey Pennsylvania hosted the Northeastern Regional Disco Doggie Dancing Meet, sponsored by the World Canine Freestyle Organization. This event involves people dancing with their dogs.

Do dogs foxtrot? Who leads? Two legs or four? What about singles who show up looking to score?

Source: THE NEW YORK TIMES



Didja Know...
The Horned Frog (which is actually a member of the lizard family) is the official Texas state reptile?
(Source: Texas Christain University)

Where did we get the word "motel" and where was the first one built?

Motel owners must hear endless jokes about Norman Bates and Alfred Hitchcock's film, Psycho. "Say, we sure liked that shower: a cut above the rest!" Ha-ha. Meanwhile the guy at the desk just grins politely, hoping to lure the obnoxious tourist in the Hawaiian sports shirt to the old house on the hill in back to meet mother.

Although the word didn't become common throughout the US until the late 1940s – they had been called tourist courts and camps – the motor hotel, or motel, began (where else?) in California. The first was the Mo-tel Inn, opened in San Luis Obispo in the mid 1920s. Named by the facility's architect, the mo-tel was built in the Spanish Mission style then popular. It consisted of a front office with individual cottages behind it, each with its own garage. My source doesn't say anything about the shower.

Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS by William and Mary Morris



Hair me out

Men and women each have about five million hairs on their body. About 125,000 of these hairs grow on the head at the rate of .4 inch per month. The summer sunshine increases this rate slightly. A full moon may accelerate that growth substantially more, but only among those who have been bitten by a werewolf.

Source: READER'S DIGEST BOOK OF FACTS



Didja Know...
The famous World War I German spy Mata Hari was the Dutch-born Gertrude Zelle?
(Source: MindFun.com)

How did we come up with "$" as a dollar sign?

First notice that computer programmers, looking to save bits and bytes, represent the dollar sign by an "S" over one, rather than the standard two vertical lines: $ (Saves money, too: if a quarter is two bits, that would make the eight-bit byte worth a dollar.)

Now, where it came from: Thomas Jefferson, who stole it from Spain. After the American Revolution, the new nation wanted to free itself from British influence and was not about to adopt the pound and its sign as its currency. Instead, the United States, at the behest of Jefferson, turned to the Spanish dollar. On the back of that large coin was the Two Pillars of Hercules at Gibraltar. An "S" was imposed on them simply to show they were plural. "I'll buy that," said the US Congress.

Source: EVER WONDER WHY? By Douglas B. Smith



Animals at the table

Giraffe's can survive longer than camels without water. How does the giraffe win this competition? It finishes thirst.

Blue whales can easily outweigh 25 elephants. I wouldn't brag about that. What's the matter, blubber boy, can't lay off the donuts?

Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS



Didja Know...
he United Nations flag is the only one that may fly above the US flag on an American flag pole?
(Source: MindFun.com)

Why do we have wisdom teeth?

Because the American Dental Association lobbied for them, I concluded after reviewing the bill from my latest brush with dentistry. There are so many dentists with the skills of a coal miner and the heart of an accountant, and so few wisdom teeth.

Before microwaves and frozen dinners, people had to really chomp their uncooked food with what are also called "third molars." But today wisdom teeth are vestigial. You don't need them for a guacamole burger. And they get infected and have to come out. Which is where your dentist and credit card come in.

They're called wisdom teeth because they're the last teeth you get. You're older and smarter than you were when you got your first teeth. So why not call gray hair, wisdom hair; middle age paunch, wisdom fat; and the forgetfulness that begins in your 40s, wisdom whiteout? Chew on that for a while.

Source: WHY THINGS ARE & WHY THEY AREN'T by Joel Achenbach



Hot, hotter, fire!

What's hotter than a jalapeno? A habanero pepper is about twenty times hotter. The measurement of pepper potency is the Scoville Unit. A bell pepper rings no bells at 100 Scoville Units, max. The jalapeno can hit 3,000 units, and set off an alarm. A typical habanero is a 275,000-unit scorcher. Minors may not eat it unless accompanied by an adult and restaurants may serve it only if a fire extinguisher is nearby.

Source: DO FISH DRINK WATER?



Didja Know...
Rhode Island, the smallest state, also has the smallest state motto: Hope?
(Mini Page)

What's the difference between a homeopath and an osteopath?

College students with a yen to heal the sick used to come to a fork in the road when choosing a career path. They could choose traditional medicine or alternative medicine, such as homeopathy and osteopathic medicine. But if they choose the latter path they got forked: insurance companies wouldn't pay for it.

Things are changing. Now you can often co-payment your way to a homeopath, who seeks to cure by inducing in patients via some natural substance the same symptoms – on a much smaller scale – that brought them to the doctor in the first place. The theory is that "like cures like." HMOs also pay for osteopaths, who base their cures, at least in part, on the manipulation of the musculoskeleton system.

Personally, I prefer to see a primrose-path. He's the doc that knows that prescribing two weeks in Cancun or Aruba will cure most anything.

Source: THE HANDY SCIENCE ANSWER BOOK by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh



Hare it is

The Great American Wild West Show has a horse named Kaspar who can do the bunny hop. They should pair him with a rabbit that horses around.

There's a clown in New York City named Silly Billy who entertains at kids' parties for $450 an hour. If I'm just silly for half an hour, that ought to be worth $225.

Source: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL



Didja Know...
The name "Wendy" was first used in J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" in 1904? It was derived from the nickname "fwendy" ("friend"), given to the author by a young friend. (Source: Behind the Name)

Why are people in conflict said to be at "loggerheads."

Do not confuse these people with the thick-muscled, ax- wielding men of the North Woods who get paid to yell "timber" all day. Nor should we mistake the disputants for ventriloquist's dummies – well, that depends on the disputants.

Loggerheads were weapons on medieval ships. They were sticks with iron at the end that was heated and then dipped in tar. The stick became a hand-held catapult with which one launched the molten tar at an enemy ship at close quarters. If you ran out of tar, you still had a long stick with a weighted end. When applied to an enemy's head with sufficient force, you were at loggerheads with a vengeance.

We had a variant in college. After enough beer, a few of the guys in the frat house would start butting skulls. We used to say they were at lagerheads.

Source: WHO PUT THE BUTTER IN BUTTERFLY? By David Feldman



"No Johnny, not yet, let's wait..."

The giant sequoia doesn't mature sexually until it's at least 175 years old. But then, boy does it party!

The date palm is a plant that can exist as both male and female. So if one ever asks you for a date, ask some very intelligent questions first.

Source: ISAAC ASIMOV'S BOOK OF FACTS



Didja Know...
The cakewalk, a dance popular among fashionable classes at the turn of the 20th century was originally a slaves' parody of awkward white ballroom dances? (Source: History.com)

Why do we say that someone who has revealed secret information has "spilled the beans?"

This expression would be obvious if it referred to giving away the location of a great little Mexican restaurant, ruining it with overcrowding. But that's not it, and I have to admit that before I looked it up, it was Greek to me.

In fact, the ancient Greeks were some of history's first bean counters, especially when it came to selecting members for their many secret societies. They voted on new candidates by putting a bean in a jar. A white bean meant "yes," and a black one meant you were, well, black-balling (black- beaning?) the unlucky aspirant. Occasionally, some klutz reached over to drop his bean but managed to knock over the jar instead, spilling the beans and exposing how the secret vote was going.

But how did the expression get into English? We don't know: that's still Greek to us.

Source: WHY YOU SAY IT by Webb Garrison



Let's hear a C note

Do you think you could tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a very fine modern violin? Even musicians with trained ears usually can't, but every trained accountant can.

Painters support their brush hand with a little gizmo called a mahlstick. And I always thought that's what shopping center security guards use to keep order.

Source: THE JOY OF TRIVIA

Why do birds sing?

Why is the sky blue? Why does the sun rise? Why do fools fall in love? We're really getting down to bedrock with this question, which is only two degrees of separation from, "What is life?"

Have you noticed that there are few sopranos among the birdies? Singing is generally a guy thing in the feathered set. One reason for it is to stake out territory, which is lot neater than how many other animals accomplish the same thing – peeing all over the place instead of putting up a fence.

And, hey, you can't nest alone. Mr. Bird breaks into song when he's on the make. Birds who sing the most usually have marked out territory rich in food. That's what the female birds are looking for: a guy with the goods. They don't care if he can't carry a tune, as long as he can put worms on the table.

Source: EVER WONDER WHY? By Douglas B. Smith



Richard the Distant

Did you know that Richard the Lionhearted was married? But his Queen, Berengia, lived in Italy and never once traveled to England. So if you meet someone who claims to be one of their descendants, be very suspicious.

Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, was just under 7 feet tall. Nevertheless, he couldn't dribble and had no jump shot to speak of.

Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS



Didja Know...
Some world maps as recently as the mid 18th century listed California as an island? (Source: Britannica.com)

What kind of a spider is a "daddy longlegs?"

With a name like that, it's obviously a cute one, not ugly and disgusting like other spiders. Had it been this creature who sat down besides Little Miss Muffet, she would have let him buy her a drink and then who knows where it might have led.

In truth, the daddy longlegs is no kind of spider. Like spiders, it's an arachnid, an eight-legged invertebrate. But scorpions and ticks also come under this heading without being spiders, creepy though they may be. The big difference between the daddy longlegs and the spider is the latter's segmented body. I guess you could say that the daddy longlegs is a more together kind of creature. Unlike spiders, daddy longlegs do not spin webs. However, their exceptionally long legs do enable them to double park over other insects.

Source: THE HANDY SCIENCE ANSWER BOOK, by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh



Slimy, and proud of it

Slime mold feeds on bacteria and dead plant matter. We only see it when it's in its reproductive stage. That's when thousands get together to form something that looks like a two-inch long slug. This great, creepy, moldy congregation moves on a layer of slime, hence its name.

It makes a great Halloween houseplant.

Source: READER'S DIGEST BOOK OF FACTS



Didja Know...
Traditionally, Encylopaedia Britannica has called upon experts to write entries on their respective fields of expertise. Among them Harry Houdini on 'conjuring,' and Sigmund Freud on 'psychoanalysis.' (Source: Britannica.com)

Why do we call scribbling on a piece of paper, "doodling?"

I was looking over my notes from a course in Latvian literature, part of my cross-discipline major in Eastern European Esoterica. Talk about marginalia! I filled the edges of every page in the notebook with 20th century hieroglyphics. Doodles? Oodles.

Why "doodles?" Why not just "scribblings," "jottings," or "ballpoint busyness?" Because such behavior reminds people of someone playing the bagpipes. Huh? If you're "dudeln" in Germany, the source of our word, you're playing the pipes -- a waste of time according to many Germans. And scribbling, equally unproductive, might as well be "dudeln." But let's not stop there. You start with bagpipes, graduate to doodling, and soon maybe you're idling away your time smoking dope. Hey, I'd better confiscate that pen before you use it as a weapon.

Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS by William and Mary Morris



Stand closer

There are 1.4 parts of fluoride to every million parts of ocean water. That's why you hardly ever see a shark with cavities. You don't believe me? Well don't take my word for it...

Earth's oceans contain over a quadrillion acre-feet of water. But of course, the most desirable acreage has a land view...

Source: THE HANDY SCIENCE ANSWER BOOK



Didja Know...
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific? When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being packed back into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "The whole 9 yards." (Useless Trivia)

Which is more potent, a mixed drink or drinking liquor straight?

There's something really neat-looking about a sassy little shot glass filled with liquid dynamite. It's a mighty powerful thing in a small but potent package. Here's lookin' at you! Bottoms up! Bombs away!

Well relax your longshoreman's grip on that thumbful of instant oblivion long enough to hear this. Those effete, goat-cheese chomping mixed drink aficionados are going to disappear a little further into alcoholic lal-la land than you will. Drink for drink, mixed drinks can get you closer, quicker to the big drunk than imbibing straight up – unless, of course, you're a chain drinker and are chugalugging those shots.

The sugar in the mixer speeds absorption of alcohol. Simultaneously, that sugar, combined with the alcohol, interacts with the pancreas to make one's blood sugar level drop. The result: the room spins, your inhibitions disappear, you're flying! Whoops. Didn't you see the coffee table in front of you?

Source: READER'S DIGEST BOOK OF FACTS



Heavy

The Earth weighs 6 sextillion, 588 quintillion tons, give or take a few pounds. According to The Handy Science Answer Book, "This is calculated from using the parameters of an ellipsoid adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1964 and recognized by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in 1967."

They never tell you, with shoes or without?

Source: THE HANDY SCIENCE ANSWER BOOK



Didja Know...
According to a recent poll, people named the racecar as their favorite Monopoly token? (Least favorite token? The wheelbarrow.) (Source: monopoly.com)

Who invented the microwave oven?

Someone who didn't have the patience to wait three minutes while water boiled on the stovetop? Someone who loved gray hamburgers? Actually, none of the above.

In 1946 Dr. Percy Spencer, an engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, was working with a magnetron tube, the emitter of microwave energy invented six years earlier in Britain by Sir John Randall and Dr. A. H. Boot. Spencer got too close to the tube and a chocolate bar in his pocket melted. This chocolate-loving -- and therefore, right-thinking -- engineer drew the proper conclusion: microwaves could cook food.

Raytheon used his discovery to produce a "Radar Range" for restaurants, which by 1952 became available as a home microwave oven. Consumers were finally able to melt chocolate in their own pockets.

Source: EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINS OF EVERYDAY THINGS by Charles Panati

Why do we call someone who provocatively criticizes, a "gadfly?"

Well, they can criticize indoors or out, so they can't be houseflies. Except for Mr. Ed., horses don't speak, so they can't be horseflies. But, by gad, there's nothing to stop us from calling this person a...

The Old English word, gadde, meant to sting or goad. The flies that hung around livestock, annoying and biting them, were called gadflies. Eventually the word stuck to individuals whose constant criticism, well meant though it might be, was equally appreciated.

Do you suppose this implies that the objects of a gadfly's criticism should be considered cattle? That's a moot point.

Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE Origins by William and Mary Morris



Your move

Checkers was invented in Egypt, where the aristocracy played it as early as 2,000 B.C. My theory is that the pharaonic system got going when the first game was in progress and one player misunderstood another when he said, "king me."

The American Indians called Lacrosse "baggataway." Airport baggage handlers later adopted the word as slang for, "she's going here so, ha-ha, send her bags there."

Source: PANATI'S BROWSER'S BOOK OF BEGINNINGS



Didja Know...
Buddy Holly's 1957 smash hit "That'll Be The Day" took its title from a line of John Wayne's dialogue in the western epic The Searchers? (Source: That Crazy, Kooky Internet Thing.)

Why might we describe a burden as an albatross around the neck?

Disturbed by body piercing? What if a young person expressed him or herself by wearing a dead bird as a necklace? Could be the next thing -- complemented by live spider bracelets.

In the expression, the bird is more noose than necklace. It comes from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Sailors considered the albatross a lucky omen, probably a sign that they were approaching land. In the poem, when a sailor kills an albatross, his shipmates punish him by making him wear it around his neck. Bad decision. Nothing but ill fortune befalls the ship and eventually all die except the guy wearing the bird. He prays for deliverance and is saved, but has to tell his story for the rest of his life. I'd call that a birden... uh, a burden.

Moral: if somebody gives you the bird, politely decline it.

Source: JUST CURIOUS JEEVES by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett



Bored with the Bard?

Would you have dared tell your high school or college English teachers that you didn't think much of Shakespeare? Some pretty good writers have sworn off the Bard. Charles Dickens said Shakespeare made him nauseous. Leo Tolstoy termed him "vulgar" and George Bernard Shaw despised Shakespeare.

Wouldn't you love to see what they got on THEIR term papers?

Source: JUST CURIOUS JEEVES by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett

Why is the male fancier looking than the female in some animal species?

Among the beasts of the earth, the male is often more elaborate-looking than the female. The male lion, for example, struts and preens, a hairy, colorful dude with a four-legged – "ain't I pretty" -- attitude. Why should this be so?

Think of it this way, if animals went to dances, it would often be the males lounging on the side while the females checked them out. For in many species the lady chooses her gentlemen, not the other way around. He has to look attractive because he needs to attract, a fashion plate in order to mate.

But predators from other species also spot the pretty ones first. That's why it's an evolutionary advantage if you can not only turn heads, but are also big and strong enough to bite one of those heads off if the wrong one turns in your direction.

Source: EVER WONDER WHY? By Douglas B. Smith



Didja Know...
Grover Cleveland was the only US President to be married while occupying the White House? Cleveland, then aged 50, married Frances Folsom, age 21. (Source: Whitehouse.gov)

Is there any difference between a lawyer and an attorney?

Sure, one sends you an invoice, while the other bills you; one talks a lot, but the other's trademark is lots of talk. Six of one and half a dozen of the other – and the meter is always running.

We tend to use the words interchangeably, but technically, there is a difference. Did you or anyone you know ever have the power of attorney for someone, without being a lawyer? An attorney is anyone – not necessarily a lawyer -- who represents someone else. Such a person is known as an attorney in fact. An attorney at law is what we commonly know as a lawyer, one who has studied the law and has passed a bar examination in order to obtain a license to practice before the courts.

Say, if lay people are attorneys in fact, what do lawyers use instead of facts? Hmmm.

Source: LAW DICTIONARY BY Steven H. Gifis



Fingered

Do you think that the ridges on your fingertips are only good for identifying you as the culprit by your prints if you steal something? Well they also give your fingertips traction. This was an important step in evolution. Homo sapiens were finally able to snap their fingers and summon a recalcitrant waiter.

Source: THE BOOK OF ANSWERS by Barbara Berliner



Didja Know...
Ray Kroc, the man who made McDonalds a world-wide fast food colossus started out by selling paper cups and then milk shake mixers, before discovering the hamburger restaurants that would make him famous
((Source: Time.com)

How do seedless grapes reproduce?

You know, this is a family mailing list, so I can't exactly draw you a picture, if you get my drift. But if you'll usher any minors in the house out of the room in which you keep your computer, I'll do my best to inform, with discretion. And I promise there will be no childish jokes about how before there were seedless grapes, it was the pits.

Actually, I was overreacting because seedless grapes reproduce without sex. (Borrring!) Did someone ever give you a cutting from a plant so that you could start your own? The process involved is regeneration, in which you can grow the whole plant by transplanting only a part of it. The original seedless grapes were mutations that were perpetuated via cuttings. It's still done that way.

But now that the kids are gone, have you heard the one about...

Source: WHY THINGS ARE & WHY THEY AREN'T by Joel Achenbach



Giving them the brush off

In California, everyone... I mean everything has to do his / its bit to prevent brush fires. Even the goats. The creatures are hired out by the herd to eat the brush that often fuels the Golden State's blazes.

One social worker calls them "part of our cultural diversity." Cultural diversity? Are we going to see some old goat run for mayor of San Jose?

Source: THE NEW YORK TIMES



Didja Know...
Ray Kroc, the man who made McDonalds a world-wide fast food colossus started out by selling paper cups and then milk shake mixers, before discovering the hamburger restaurants that would make him famous
((Source: Time.com)

Where do mosquitoes hang out and what do they do when they're not biting you?

They're on my arm, biting me. Sorry, just indulging in a little self-pity. Who knows where the bloody things hang out? Maybe at the Type O Bar, where old proofreaders also go to drink.

Ok, I did the research. Typically, mosquitoes put the bite on you at night or, if they're crepuscular (sounds like someone who doesn't blow his nose, doesn't it?), at twilight. They hate sunlight, but you probably already guessed that. During the day, they're likely to be in the grass, on a tree, under a bridge or in a house on a wall away from light.

And what are they doing when not drinking your blood or mating? Not much of anything. Well are they just hanging out or asleep? We're not sure. If you have an itch to know, put your ear next to one and tell me if it's snoring.

Source: DO PENGUINS HAVE KNEES? By David Feldman



Slow day at the office

England's King George III kept a diary. In it, for July 4,1776, he noted, "Nothing of importance happened today." I guess he neglected to get his email that day.

How about a little ethnic food? Haggis, Scotland's national dish is made from a sheep or calf's internal organs cooked in the animal's stomach, with added fat and oatmeal. Ok, you can have a cheeseburger instead.

Source: THE JOY OF TRIVIA

Why do we say that a crazy person is "loco?"

First, let's clear up some confusion. This is not related to the old railroad slang word, which was simply short for locomotive. If you think they're the same, you don't know one end from another. Crazy railroad people aren't loco, they have a loose caboose.

But I digress. The word "loco" comes from a weed found in the Southwest. No, not THAT weed – and stop grinning. This plant, a narcotic, is actually called the locoweed and it drove cattle nuts when they ate it. t became a synonym for craziness in the West in the 1840s and came into widespread use about four decades later.

Did you ever see a bull run amok? Crazy, man.

Source: I HEAR AMERICA TALKING by Stuart B. Flexner



I hope they tipped

Last summer six people paid a total of $66,270 for dinner at Petrus, a London restaurant. That's $10,378 per head – well, per mouth, actually. And the food was free! They just paid for five bottles of vino ultra expensivo, a few bottles of Champagne, a couple of bottles of water, a glass of juice and a pack of cigarettes.

Say, what do you smoke with a bottle of Le Montrachet 1982?

Source: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Why do we call someone who is obnoxiously good, "goody two- shoes?"

A goody two-shoes is someone terminally sweet, too good for his or her own good -- the kind of kid who was deservedly beaten up by the class bully in the schoolyard. If life were graded on a curve, like an exam, a goody two-shoes would be the spoilsport who got most of us consigned to damnation.

The expression originated with an 18th century English children's story, possibly written by Oliver Goldsmith, called "The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes." It's about a girl who starts with one shoe, finds its mate, and then repulsively runs about town bragging about the silly accomplishment. Well goody for her.

I prefer Mae West's take on goodness. The actress said, "When I'm good, I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."

Source: DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE Origins by William and Mary Morris



Close your eyes, open your mouth, turn on the TV...

In 1916, a weirdo monk named Grigori Rasputin gained influence over the Russian Czar and his wife. Aristocrats, fearing Rasputin's power, plotted to kill him. The poisoned him, shot him in the heart, clubbed him, shot him in the head, bound him and threw him in the river. The coroner stated he was still struggling when he drowned.

They should have first anesthetized him with a late-nite cable TV infomercial.

Source: READER'S DIGEST BOOK OF FACTS




Didja Know...
Completed in 312 BCE, parts of the Appian Way are still in continuous use?
(Source: Encarta)

When did anesthetics begin to be used in surgery?

Can you imagine what it might have been like to have surgery before anesthetics? "This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you," the doc tells you. "Don't put me on, doc," you plead, "put me out!"

The first anesthetic was whiskey, but I can't imagine that dealing with more than, oh, maybe a fifth of the pain. Modern surgery begins with a Connecticut dentist, Horace Wells, who in 1844 used – don't laugh -- nitrous oxide to dull the pain of a tooth extraction. Two years later, after progress in developing a mechanism to deliver this painkiller evenly, surgeons used it in removing a tumor from a patient at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Within a year, this anesthetic technique became standard throughout the world.

Source: READER'S DIGEST BOOK OF FACTS



Look out below

Picture a big hairy thing with lots of legs, wallowing in the mud. No, it's not your your eighth grade teacher, it's the trap-door spider. It covers its burrow with a door made from silk and mud. The door fits perfectly, keeping out rainwater and letting appropriate, unsuspecting insect passers-by drop in, so to speak.

Anybody know what kind of wine you drink with ants?

Source: HOW A FLY WALKS UPSIDE DOWN

Why does yeast make dough rise?

Not so long ago it was a good bet that the stock market would make your dough rise. But the air has gone out of that bubble.

Speaking of bubbles, would you like to make some real bread? Without yeast, you will end up with matzo, the "unleavened" bread of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Yeast consists of one-celled plants that constantly split to form other plants. During this process they make two enzymes that, when mixed into flour and water, cause the resulting dough to ferment, or leaven. During fermentation, the starch in the dough is changed into sugar and then alcohol and carbon dioxide. The latter, a gas, forms bubbles throughout the dough, puffing it up. The alcohol and yeast disappear during baking, leaving you with bread.

Next time your stockbroker advises putting your dough to work in the market, tell him you would rather let it loaf.

Source: HOW A FLY WALKS UPSIDE DOWN by Martin M. Goldwyn



Not your decision

A skunk can't bite and stink at the same time. That doesn't mean it's your option if you meet one around a bend in the trail.

Nobody has ever domesticated an African elephant. Who would want to? Imagine emptying the litter box!

Source: 2201 FASCINATING FACTS



Didja Know...
The musicians Peter Frampton, Paul Simon, and James Taylor were once partners in a professional soccer team, the NASL's Philadelphia Freedom?
(Source: All Music)