Stuff You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know

Okay, Peeps! It’s been way to long since I’ve posted an educational post. You remember I do these to make you mo smartest than the average bear. So you can be smart like me. So you can have a decent conversation with any idiot you happen to run into, like your boss. So you can be a better Trivial Pursuit player. But mainly because you have some time to kill or you wouldn’t be reading this damn thing.

From past postings, emails and comments, I know that some of these are not entirely true, but it’s up to you to prove them wrong. I don’t care. I’m just the teacher, the instructor, the purveyor of information. It’s like the Liberal educational system in this country. Just teach what you are told to do by the BOE and forget the truth. (I know there are some awesome, dedicated teachers out there. I read some of their post. But the Teachers Union forces the schools systems to keep the useless, bigoted, and uneducated ones on staff.) Do with it what ever you feel like doing with it when you do it.

*****
Stuff You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know

* Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.

* Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

* Coca-Cola was originally green.

* The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

* The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%

* The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

* The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $ 16,400

* The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour: 61,000

* Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

* The first novel ever written on a typewriter, Tom Sawyer.

* The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monument.

* Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
  Spades - King David
  Hearts - Charlemagne
  Clubs -Alexander, the Great
  Diamonds - Julius Caesar

* 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 (that should help you balance you check book)

* If a statue in the park of a person on a horse with both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
  If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died because of wounds received in battle.
  If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

* Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature, Thomas McKean, wasn't added until 5 years later in 1781.

* Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what? Their birthplace.

* Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested? Obsession

* If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter 'A'? One thousand

* What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers have in common? All were invented by women. (as well as all babies)

* What is the only food that doesn't spoil? Honey (and Twinkies)

* Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year? Father's Day

* In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened, making t he bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase, 'Goodnight, sleep tight.'

* It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

* In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them, 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.' It's where we get the phrase, 'Mind your P's and Q's'

* Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice.

AND YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2011 when...

1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

Now go forth and be smart! (You make me so proud)