I’ve been watching hundreds of Europeans since the World Cup ended who seem to be quite taken with the USA and especially all things Texas. Here’s another little gift directly from the wild, wild, west to all of those visitors. Even our limericks rock . . . .
Are you an animal lover? I imagine most of us love and appreciate our pets and make them part of the family. Other folks love animals just as much, if not more, but that is based entirely on their favorite meat cuts and flavor. Todays post will give you a few facts you might not have heard before Enjoy!
In the last three thousand years, no new animals have been domesticated.
Scientist have discovered that chickens egg output increases when pop music is played in their roost.
A pelican can hold approximately 25 pounds of fish in it’s pouch.
The first fish in space was a South American guppy in 1976.
Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all have two penises.
Armadillos and humans are the only animals that can get leprosy.
Camels milk is the only milk that doesn’t curdle when boiled.
Jackals have one more pair of chromosomes than dogs or wolves.
No one knows why a ducks quack doesn’t echo.
Rhino’s belong to the same family as horses and were thought to have inspired the myth of the unicorn.
As the World Cup activities continue it seems that Europeans are rediscovering America and it’s citizens based on what they are experiencing and not what they’ve been told by the Media and their governments. At the same time many Americans are rediscovering the people of Europe person-to-person, not just individual countries. Hopefully as the tournament continues the ripples of understanding will continue to grow. It seems that all of us, Europeans and Americans alike, have been manipulated by the Media for years and I hope and pray that that is about to dramatically change. Todays post is a ten question quiz concerning matters of this World and as always the answers will be listed below. Have fun with it.
Who was the first American to have a monument erected in his honor in India?
What are the three largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea?
What is the largest desert in Europe?
What city is the southernmost state capital in the United States?
What European capital is located in the crater of an extinct volcano?
What is the most common domestic animal on the African continent?
What is the Temple of the Tooth?
What animal was the symbol of liberty in ancient Rome?
What is the longest river in Europe?
In what four European countries are motorists required to drive on the left-hand side of the road?
Answers
George Washington Carver, Sicily, Sardinia, and Cyprus, There are none, Honolulu, Hawaii, Edinburgh, Scotland, The Goat, A Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka housing the relic of the tooth of Buddha, The Cat, The Volga in Russia – 2293 miles long, The United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus.
I seem to be overflowing with accumulated trivia information these days and as I get it I’ll pass it along to you. Todays topics for review are all pop-culture related facts.
The famous quote “play it again Sam”, was never actually uttered in the movie Casablanca.
Though they look alike, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are fraternal twins, not identical.
John Lennon signed the paperwork formalizing the breakup of the Beatles while staying at a Disney World hotel.
Woody in Toy Story has a last name. It was revealed in 2009 as “Pride”.
In the movie Home Alone, the picture of Buzz’s girlfriend that Kevin finds is actually a boy in a wig.
During his performances of James Bond, Sean Connery always wore a wig.
The injuries on Luke Skywalkers face when he was attacked by the snow monster in The Empire Strikes Back were real.
Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t draw the sketch of Kate Winslet in Titanic . . . but director James Cameron did.
DC Comics boasts a superhero named Arms-Fall-Off-Boy.
2006’s Bond movie Casino Royale was the first Bond movie that could be watched in China.
BONUS FACT
(On everyone’s favorite character)
In the Star Wars Trilogy, George Lucas’s original full name for
Here is the next installment of more retro trivia facts from the 1950’s. Lets see if you can improve on your score from the 1940’s quiz. As always the answers will be listed below. Have fun!
How man presidents were elected in the 1950’s?
Name the pope elected in 1958.
Who did George Jorgensen become?
Name the first atomic submarine.
What lamp reached it’s height of popularity in the 1950’s?
What British king died in 1952?
The Ford Motor Company has never lived down the failure of what car, introduced in the 50’s?
Name the political group that was established in 1950 by H.N. Arrowsmith, Jr,
Established in 1953, NASA stands for what?
What Russian word, popularized in the late 1950’s , means “fellow wayfarer”?
BONUS Question
Where did the unoccupied Soviet spacecraft Lunik journey?
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Answers
One, John XXIII, Christine Jorgensen, The Nautilus, Pole Lamp, King George VI, The Edsel, The American Nazi Party, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Sputnik, BONUS- To the Moon,
Are you loving this GD cold weather and snow as much as I am. Trapped in my house patiently waiting for the oil delivery to arrive so I can shell out 400 more dollars to keep my water lines from freezing. Even my man-cave is suffering. No matter what I do it remains quite chilly and making typing this post a real chore. Here is a little sample of obscure Art related mish/mosh and now I can return upstairs to the warm rooms. Enjoy . . . .
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Before he became an artist Vincent van Gogh worked as an evangelist in Belgium.
American Gothic, the famous painting of a couple with a pitchfork, was done by Grant Wood in 1930. The couple that posed for the painting were his dentist and his sister.
The actual name of the famous painter El Greco was Domenikos Theotokopoulos.
Painter Paul Gauguin was once a stockbroker.
American painter Norman Rockwell became the art director of Boy’s Life magazine while he was still a teenager.
The National Gallery of Art opened in Washington DC on March 17, 1941.
Charles M. Shultz’s comic strip Peanuts debuted in October, 1950.
The deep red sunset seen in Norwegian Edward Munch’s The Scream is believed to reflect the intense sunsets seen throughout the world following the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s fresco, The Last Supper, is located in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
I’ve always been a huge fan of westerns especially those starring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. The western genre has also been exported to the entire planet making it possible to see many fans wearing boots and cowboy hats even in Japan. We’re in the final days leading up to the holiday and what better way to relax from all of the Christmas insanity, than to take a short mental trip to the Old West by way of limericks. These should be considered “PG”. Enjoy . . . Partner!
I love reading odd facts about damn near anything. For years I religiously read the Darwin Awards and while they offer stories on weird ways to die, they are at times humorous as hell. People might take offense to that but I really don’t care because funny is still funny regardless of the circumstances. I recently stumbled upon three short stories on death that actually became a part of history. They’re not all that funny but they are definitely interesting. Let’s get started.
On September 14, 1899, Henry Bliss stepped down from a streetcar at West 74th and Central Park West in New York City. As he turned to help a female passenger down the stairs, he was struck by a passing cab, making the 68-year-old man the first pedestrian ever killed by an automobile in the United States.
Five years after their historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers took their new plane, the Wright Flyer, on a cross-country tour to prove it could safely carry passengers. The third stop was at Fort Myers, Virginia, on September 17, 1908. As a crowd of 2000 cheered, Orville Wright and his passenger, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge of the US Army Signal Corps, lifted off into the sky. Then the propeller snapped in two and the Wright Flyer nosedived 150 feet to the ground. Selfridge was killed instantly; Wright suffered multiple hip and leg fractures that plagued him with chronic pain for the rest of his life. This was the first documented death on an airplane.
Here’s another oldie but goodie that occurred during the September 15, 1833 at the launch of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in England. It was attended by the Duke of Wellington and William Huskisson, a member of Parliament. Ignoring the engineers warning to remain on the train, Huskisson joined the other passengers and disembarked to gawk at the engines lined up on the parallel tracks. He stepped onto an empty track just as an engine called the Rocket barreled into the station. Huskisson fell beneath the wheels of the locomotive and lost his leg and died a few minutes later. He was unaware that he had made history as the first person ever killed by a train.
My father, a former USN sailor, absolutely loved Bermuda. His ship made numerous stops there during the war and he told me on many occasions how he wished he could live there. I’ve never been lucky enough to visit Bermuda but it certainly looks like a wonderful place. Here’s a short historical story you might enjoy.
Fact: Bermuda has a robust history of pirating.
Seven supply ships sent out for Virginia in June 1609. It was the maiden voyage of the London Companies flagship Sea Venture, the first British merchant vessel designed to transport passengers. Battered for days by a hurricane, the fleet was scattered, and construction flaws caused the Sea Venture to leak badly. Spotting land, company Adm. Sir George Somers deliberately steered the ship onto the reefs, enabling his crew and passengers to escape. Stranded on a desert island, the survivors built two boats and finally reached Jamestown nine months later.
Based on that shipwreck, England laid claim to Bermuda, which was incorporated into the London Company’s charter. And a later account by Sea Venture survivor William Strachey reached England and became the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s final play, the Tempest.
Fact: Rainwater captured from the roofs of its buildings is Bermuda’s only source of fresh water.
A poem of Bermuda:
wings catch the wind’s plea, ancient calls across the miles, new lands greet the sun.
I’m feeling the need to post another quiz. In recent weeks I’ve posted quizzes from pop culture in the 1960’s and 1970’s and the age of the reader almost always determined their average score. Apparently looking back isn’t very popular these days with our younger generations. Todays attempt at reawakening the past will include questions of Science facts from the 1970’s. The answers will be posted below.
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THE CONCORDE
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EVERYONE LUVS SCIENCE
__________ was one of two Soviet cosmonauts who took part in the Apollo-Soyuz mission.
How fast could the Concorde jets fly?
What year did Amtrak begin service?
By 1972, __________ percentage of American homes had color TV’s?
What year was smallpox eradicated?
The first Apple Computer available on the market was the __________.
Amtrak immediately cut the number of passenger train routes from ___________ to __________.
In what country was the last reported naturally occurring case of smallpox?
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and __________ are the founders of Apple.
The Apollo-Soyuz used mission allowed the Soviets/Russians to build the __________.
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THE MIR
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Answers
Alexi Neonov or Valeri Kubasov, Mach 2.02 or 1330 mph, 1971, 50%, 1977, Apple I, 366 to 184, Somalia, Ronald Wayne, the Mir space station.
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