Totally Useless (or not) Fact of the Day

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Since 1950, neither winners

nor heirs may sell their Oscar statuette
without offering to sell it back

to the Academy first for $1.

Can't remember if I posted this, or not ...
(Memory is the first thing to go, ya know ...)

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In the 1940's, the Wurlitzer Jukebox Company
slogan was "The Magic That Changes Moods."

JackRabbit wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In the United States, one pound of Potato Chips
costs 200 times more than a pound of potatoes.

Tater! ... Why is that?

Lets see... You can occasionally get a 5 pound bag of potatoes on sale for $1.00, which is 20 cents a pound, so .20 times 200 is $40.00...

ummm, Jack, I think they are exaggerating slightly?

That's what - I - thought Tater.
Seems their figures are a bit off there.
(At least, in my humble bunny opinion.)
Maybe they just need to be better shoppers.

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During a period of 160 such days
from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924,
the Australian town of Marble Bar set a world record for the most consecutive days above 100 °F (37.8 °C).

I think we are working on a tie with that!
Whew! ... It is a HOT summer out there!

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Uncle Sam was based on Samuel Wilson,
who worked as a meat inspector
during the War of 1812.

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Charlie Brown's dad was a barber.

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Roger Ebert and Oprah Winfrey
went on a couple of dates in the mid 1980s.
It was Roger who convinced her
to syndicate her talk show.
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Today in history: August 1, 1873
Inventor Andrew S. Hallidie
successfully tested a cable car
he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

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Playing cards in India are round.

In December 1997, the state of Nevada (USA) became the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as "acts of God" — protecting the state from lawsuits that may potentially be brought against it by residents in the year 2000.

I believe the term for that is abbreviated: CYA

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The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 mission on December 11, 1972. ... "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."

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Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18)
made the following observation about 2,000 years ago: "Women are always buying something."

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James Arness, the actor best known for his portrayal of U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon in the long-running TV series Gunsmoke, was the first WWII American soldier to jump off his boat at the Anzio beachhead. He was ordered by his commander to do so because, standing at 6' 8" in height, he was the tallest man in his company, and the water's depth needed to be tested as a safety precaution.

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There are 63,360 inches in a mile.

The word deadline
is derived from American Civil War history.

The Andersonville prison, officially known as Camp Sumter, served as a Confederate Prisoner-of-war camp during the American Civil War. The site of the prison is now Andersonville National Historic Site in Andersonville, Georgia. In all, 12,913 of the approximately 45,000 Union prisoners died there because of starvation, malnutrition, diarrhea, disease and being shot trying to escape the prison "wall". The "wall" was actually a rope strung about the camp, from whence we get the word "DEADLINE". If a prisoner stepped over, sharpshooters were ordered to kill them. There was no budget to build a real wall. Not too many tried it ...

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The 1955 James Dean-Natalie Wood classic,
Rebel Without a Cause, was banned in Britain and Spain upon its release, for fear that young people would become violent after seeing the film.

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Redwood trees sometimes grow
to heights of 350 feet and produce bark
that is more than a foot thick. Yet they spring
from a seed that is only sixteenth of an inch long.

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St. Bernard of Menthon, who built
way stations for tired medieval travelers in the Alps,
is the patron saint of mountain climbers.
The dog breed was also named for St. Bernard.
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After her success in the stage and film treatments of The Miracle Worker, Patty Duke was the first teenager to be given her own American TV show – The Patty Duke Show – which aired from 1963 through 1966.

The Kata Tjuta ... "What are they?" ...

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The Kata Tjuta are a series of unusual rock formations in Australia. They have been treated as a sacred site by the Pitjantjatjara Aborigines for thousands of years, and they continue to be used for the purpose of sacred ceremonies and other events. The Pitjantjatjara, who refer to themselves as the Anangu, are the custodians of the Kata Tjuta and neighboring Uluru, another sacred site. Both sites are of interest to visitors to Australia, who often make time to see them.
Read more here:
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M&M's actually stands for
"Mars & Murrie's,"
the last names of the candy's founders.

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Brazil is a land with a lot of big creatures — it is home to the world's largest snake (the anaconda, measuring up to 35 feet in length), largest spider, largest rodent (the capybara, a sort of guinea pig the size of a police dog), and the world's largest ant.

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The word "toast," meaning a proposal of health, originated in Rome, where an actual bit of spiced, burned bread was dropped into wine to improve the drink's flavor, absorb its sediment, and thus make it more healthful.

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Uninterruptedly since the sixth century,
the Japanese throne has been occupied
by a member of the same family.
The present-day emperor,
Akihito, is the 125th in succession.

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The Humane Society estimates that there are 800,000 dog bites that require medical attention every year. Dog bites rank second behind sexually transmitted diseases as the most costly health problem in the United States. Over 60 percent of those bitten are children, and 80 percent of the fatalities are also children.
(Wow! That's alot of dog bites!)

The Zippin Pippin, formerly called the Pippin, is one of the oldest existing wooden roller coasters in the United States.[citation needed] It was initially constructed in the former East End Park in Memphis, Tennessee in 1912 by John A. Miller and Harry Baker of National Amusement Devices. The construction material was pine wood. As the park declined in popularity, the coaster was dismantled and relocated adjacent to the horse track in Montgomery Park, now known as the Mid-South Fairgrounds. It has been purchased by the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin and installed at the Bay Beach Amusement Park.[1] You can view the construction process on this webcam. It is once again in operation

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Let's go for a ride BB!

According to a survey of American mothers of school-age kids, 44 percent of elementary school children prefer a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich packed into their lunchbox. Their second sandwich choice is bologna, at 16 percent.

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Ed Wood’s dreadful sci-fi "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1958) was originally titled "Grave Robbers from Outer Space." The film has been voted the worst movie of all time, and has a loyal cult following.
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How do zoo animals keep cool in the summer heat? At the Phoenix Zoo, zookeepers freeze assorted fruits, vegetables, fish, and seeds in big chunks of ice. These "popsicles" are tossed daily into the watering holes of the animals' cages and living arenas. Animal experts maintain that not only do these popsicles help keep the animals cool during Arizona's 116-plus degree summer weather, but rouse the animals into retrieving the ice chunks from the pools, simulating behavior in the wild.

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Forty-six percent of the world's water

is in the Pacific Ocean.

The Atlantic has 23.9 percent;

the Indian, 20.3; the Arctic, 3.7 percent.

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"Man – woman – birth – death – infinity"

were the opening words of

the Ben Casey television series in the 1960s.

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Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the first American to have plumbing installed in his house, in 1840.

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A dragonfly flaps its wings 20 to 40 times a second, bees and houseflies 200 times, some mosquitoes 600 times, and a tiny gnat 1,000 times.

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The first year that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was open, it carried 3.5 million vehicles. Today, the annual totals average close to 40 million. It cost $35 million to build with the construction bonds being paid off in 1971. The replacement cost is estimated to be about $1.3 billion.

JackRabbit wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

A dragonfly flaps its wings 20 to 40 times a second, bees and houseflies 200 times, some mosquitoes 600 times, and a tiny gnat 1,000 times.

How many times a second do hummingbirds flap their wings?

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Wing beats: 40-80 per second, average about 52
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Red or pink grapefruit is higher in vitamin C than white grapefruit.

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Crayola crayons are manufactured by Binney and Smith.

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In 1954, Trix breakfast cereal was introduced by General Mills. The new cereal, a huge hit with kids, was 46.6 percent sugar.

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In medieval times, church bells were often consecrated to ward off evil spirits. Because thunderstorms were attributed to the work of demons, the bells would be rung in an attempt to stop the storms. Numerous bellringers were killed by lightning.

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Theodore Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to deliver an inaugural address without using the word "I." Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower tied for second place, using "I" only once in their inaugural addresses.

(You would probably need a calculator to keep up with how many times Obama used it.)

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A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The whiskers act as feelers or antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage.

JackRabbit wrote:Let's go for a ride BB!

I just had a ride very recently on that roller coaster, Jack. Not going again! lol

Zippin Pippin Test Run With Riders POV Green Bay


THE ZIPPIN PIPPIN'S LAST STAND (Liberty Land)

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Wow! I don't know, if I want to go for a ride with you on THAT thing, or not! You might squeeze me too hard and all of my stuffin' would fall out! LOL

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The Peanuts characters were first animated in 1957 for a Ford Fairlane automobile commercial. Snoopy stood on two legs for the first time in a 1958 strip. Snoopy and Charlie Brown appeared together on the March 17, 1967 cover of Life magazine. The Apollo X astronauts took the duo into space in 1969. Charlie Brown hit a game-winning home run on March 30, 1998, his first in 43 years. Unfortunately, he NEVER got to kick the football.

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"Big cheese" and "big wheel" are Medieval terms of envious respect for those who could afford to buy whole wheels of cheese at a time, an expense few could enjoy. Both these terms are often used sarcastically today.

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There are species of mice that live in marshy places and are excellent swimmers. (Obviously, this is NOT one of those "excellent swimmers" ... he cheats!)

Google is actually the common name

for a number with a million zeros.



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1,000, 000, 000, 000 .......

You people carry on ... this is gonna take a while!

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Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Haley's Comet came into view. When He died in 1910, Haley's Comet came into view again.

Did you know that in the 1800's Hungarian peasants used to cover up all the mirrors in their houses so their small children wouldn't accidentally kill themselves with a reflected "evil eye?"

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