View Full Version : one million
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:15 PM
12,500
Potato chips are American's favorite snack food. They are devoured at a rate of 1.2 billion pounds a year.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:15 PM
12,501
Potato chips were invented in Saratoga Springs in 1853 by chef George Crum. They were a mocking response to a patron who complained that his French fries were too thick.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:16 PM
12,502
Refried beans aren't really what they seem. Although their name seems like a reasonable translation of Spanish frijoles refritos, the fact is that these beans aren't fried twice. In Spanish, refritos literally means "well-fried," not "re-fried."
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:16 PM
12,503
Research show that only 43% of homemade dinners served in the US include vegetables.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:17 PM
12,504
Rice is the staple food of more than one-half of the world's population.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:18 PM
12,505
Saffron, made from the dried stamens of cultivated crocus flowers, is the most expensive cooking spice.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:18 PM
12,506
Since Hindus don't eat beef, the McDonald's in New Delhi makes its burgers with mutton.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:19 PM
12,507
Sliced bread was introduced under the Wonder Bread label in 1930.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:20 PM
12,508
Swiss Steak, Chop Suey, Russian Dressing, and a Hamburger all originated in the US.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:20 PM
12,509
Tequila is made from the root of the blue agave cactus.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:21 PM
12,510
The Agen plum which would become the basis of the US prune industry was first planted in California in 1856.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:21 PM
12,511
The average child will eat 1,500 PB sandwiches by high school graduation.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:22 PM
12,512
The California grape and wine industries were started by Count Agoston Haraszthy de Moksa, who planted Tokay, Zinfandel, and Shiras varieties from his native Hungary in Buena Vista in 1857.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:23 PM
12,513
The color of a chile is no indication of its spiciness, but size usually is - the smaller the pepper, the hotter it is.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:23 PM
12,514
The daughter of confectioner Leo Hirschfield is commemorated in the name of the sweet he invented: Although his daughter's real name was Clara, she went by the nickname Tootsie, and in her honor, her doting father named his chewy chocolate logs Tootsie Rolls.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:24 PM
12,515
The difference between apple juice and apple cider is that the juice is pasteurized and the cider is not.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:25 PM
12,516
The dye used to stamp the grade on meat is edible. It's made from grape skins.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:25 PM
12,517
The English word "soup" comes from the Middle Ages word "sop," which means a slice of bread over which roast drippings were poured. The first archaeological evidence of soup being consumed dates back to 6000 B.C., with the main ingredient being Hippopotamus bones!
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:26 PM
12,518
The FDA allows an average of 30 or more insect fragments and one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams of peanut butter.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:26 PM
12,519
The first ring donuts were produced in 1847 by a 15 year old baker's apprentice, Hanson Gregory, who knocked the soggy center out of a fried doughnut.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:27 PM
12,520
The fungus called truffles can cost $800 to $1,500 per pound. They are sniffed out by female pigs, which detect a compound that is in the saliva of male pigs as well. The same chemical is found in the sweat of human males.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:28 PM
12,521
The hamburger was invented in 1900 by Louis Lassen. He ground beef, broiled it, and served it between two pieces of toast.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:28 PM
12,522
The hottest chile in the world is the habanero.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:29 PM
12,523
The ice cream soda was invented in 1874 by Robert Green. He was serving a mixture of syrup, sweet cream and carbonated water at a celebration in Philadelphia. He ran out of cream and substituted ice cream.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:29 PM
12,524
The largest item on any menu in the world is probably the roast camel, sometimes served at Bedouin wedding feasts. The camel is stuffed with a sheep's carcass, which is stuffed with chickens, which are stuffed with fish, which are stuffed with eggs.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:30 PM
12,525
The Pillsbury Bake-off has been held every year since 1948.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:31 PM
12,526
The pound cake got its name from the pound of butter it contained.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:31 PM
12,527
The sandwich is named for the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), for whom sandwiches were made so that he could stay at the gambling table without interruptions for meals.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:32 PM
12,528
The vintage date on a bottle of wine indicates the year the grapes were picked, not the year of bottling.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:32 PM
12,529
The white part of an egg is the albumen
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:33 PM
12,530
The white potato originated in the Andes mountains and was probably brought to Britain by Sir Francis Drake about 1586.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:34 PM
12,531
The world's first chocolate candy was produced in 1828 by Dutch chocolate-maker Conrad J. Van Houten. He pressed the fat from roasted cacao beans to produce cocoa butter, to which he added cocoa powder and sugar.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:34 PM
12,532
The world's costliest coffee, at $130 a pound , is called Kopi Luwak. It is in the droppings of a type of marsupial that eats only the very best coffee beans. Plantation workers track them and scoop their precious poop.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:35 PM
12,533
The world's deadliest mushroom is the Amanita phalloides, the death cap. The five different poisons contained by the mushroom cause diarrhea and vomiting within 6 to 12 hours of ingestion. This is followed by damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system - and, in the majority of cases, coma and death.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:35 PM
12,534
To determine the percentage of alcohol in a bottle of liquor divide the proof by two.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:36 PM
12,535
Van Camp's Pork and Beans were a staple food for Union soldiers in the Civil War.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:36 PM
12,536
Vanilla is the extract of fermented and dried pods of several species of orchids.
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:37 PM
12,537
When honey is swallowed, it enters the blood stream within a period of 20 minutes.
Ozling
08-05-2003, 08:37 PM
12,535
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:38 PM
12,538
When Swiss cheese ferments, a bacterial action generates gas. As the gas is liberated, it bubbles through the cheese leaving holes. Cheese-makers call them "eyes."
Ozling
08-05-2003, 08:38 PM
12,536
Nubian
08-05-2003, 08:39 PM
12,541
according to counter
Ozling
08-05-2003, 08:40 PM
12,537
dadaist
08-05-2003, 08:45 PM
Originally posted by MilkToast
I've read all the posts in this thread :)
--12466--
Yep - and I'm counting on you to say something if I start duplicating factoids....
12543
dadaist
08-05-2003, 08:48 PM
Originally posted by Nubian
12,492
Large doses of coffee can be lethal. Ten grams, or 100 cups over 4 hours, can kill the average human.
Is that from the caffeine or too many trips to the bathroom? ;)
12544
IAKaraokeGirl
08-05-2003, 08:48 PM
12,544~
<-----is also relying on MilkToast, Keeper of the One Million Thread, to catch her double-postings, too, especially since he didn't take her on his trip with him. ;)
BlondeCurlGirl
08-05-2003, 08:53 PM
12,545
Practically close enough to what I will end up paying in repairs for my car. :(
dadaist
08-05-2003, 08:54 PM
12547
Uh, wouldn't that be time to buy a new car?
What happened?
Cheyanne
08-05-2003, 09:03 PM
12548
I saw that BCG... that is an awful lot of money! Did you get a second opinion???
BlondeCurlGirl
08-05-2003, 09:04 PM
12549
Not quite *that* high, but close to $2k. And big enough for me! Am shopping around for other options on repairs and parts.
IAKaraokeGirl
08-05-2003, 09:04 PM
12,550~$2k *is* a lot.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 09:09 PM
12551
While it is fairly widely known that there is a body in France that makes decisions on what words are and aren't allowed into the language, and what words are to be used in their place (e.g. 'e-mail' was recently banned), that language is not the only one with a decision making body. A reformation of writing and spelling for the German language was announced in 1996, codified into law by the Austrian, Swiss and German governments, and expected to take effect by 2005. The last such decisions about the language had been codified in 1902. Some people and organizations began using the new spellings right away, but there has been some resistance. Even as recently as this past May there have been counter-reform methods suggested.
Cheyanne
08-05-2003, 09:16 PM
12552
Layman's terms **please**... :D
dadaist
08-05-2003, 09:19 PM
12553
You post your esoteric trivia, I'll post mine.
Careful or I'll get into details, and NOT translate them! Muahahaha.
strokeplayer
08-05-2003, 09:19 PM
12,554
Just diddling along.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 09:37 PM
12555
Cheyanne
08-05-2003, 10:01 PM
12556
LOL ok dadaist.... ;)
Originally posted by dadaist
12553
You post your esoteric trivia, I'll post mine.
Careful or I'll get into details, and NOT translate them! Muahahaha.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:16 PM
12557
Cheyanne
08-05-2003, 10:23 PM
12558
I am ready for the wee hours of the morning... hehehe. Found some more trivia. Am getting ready for trivial pursuit with Sugarsprinkles... :D
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:26 PM
12559 I might start without you :P
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:27 PM
12560
The following are taken from
"The Dot Eaters - Classic Video Game History"
at
http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/index.htm
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:29 PM
12561
In 1889, the year Nintendo was founded in Japan (remember they were known for making playing cards for a long long time, and got into video games at the end of the 70s/start of the 80s):
* The screw-top bottle is patented by Dan Rylands of Hope Glass Works, Yorkshire, England.
* A dock strike cripples the city of London.
* The punch-card information storage system is developed by H. Hollerith.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:31 PM
12562
Also in 1889:
Fruit-peddler William Kemmler axes his lover Matilda Ziegler to death in Buffalo, NY., and is the first person sentenced to die in the newly designed electric chair. In the culmination of a viscious PR war between competing electricity delivery systems Direct Current championed by Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse's stronger and more lethal Alternating Current as to who would actually provide the killing voltages, Westinghouse loses and it is his AC that rips through Kemmler's body when he is "Westinghoused" the following year.
(Yet it's AC current that we use in North America daily - most of the rest of the world uses DC)
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:32 PM
12563
More from 1889:
* Danish inventor Vlademar Poulson invents magnetic wire recording.
* George Eastman markets the first flexible picture film roll.
* Vincent Van Gogh voluntarily admits himself into an insane asylum at Saint-Remy in France. He paints his "Garden at the Hospital", "Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear", and "Wheat Fields and Cyprus Trees" during this period. The next year he kills himself with a revolver shot to the chest.
* The Eiffel tower is officially inaugurated in Paris.
* The Moulin Rouge opens
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:33 PM
12564
Still from 1889:
Mary Sawyer Tyler dies. She was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, and at 10 received a pet lamb called Nethaniel which would follow her to the Red Stone schoolhouse occasionally. Visitor to the school John Roulstone was endeared by this and composed the famous poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb", which was later expanded on by Sarah J. Hale.
dicksbro
08-05-2003, 10:34 PM
12,565
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:35 PM
12566
And all further events are also from 1889 until I say otherwise ;)
* May day, or Worker's Day, is first observed.
* Johannes Brahms' performance of "Hungarian Dance" is recorded on an Edison Phonograph cylinder.
(And the RIAA will come bust you if you have an MP3 - just kidding)
* Dishwashing machines are first sold in Chicago.
* "The Sneeze", a groundbreaking film experiment by Thomas Edison, is screened. It features sound effects from a syncronized phonograph player.
(The MPAA will do the same thing as the RIAA if you have a digital copy ;) ).
* The first Bell Telephone logo is introduced.
* 50,000 white settlers pour into Oklahoma during the land rush, with all 1.9 million acres available claimed by sundown.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:37 PM
12567
Two white men in Missouri, newspaper editorial writer Chris L. Rutt and miller Charles G. Uncerwood, invent the first self-rising pancake mix. After seeing a show at the local vaudeville house with two comedians in blackface, Rutt take the name of the show stopping song sung by one as a household "mammy" for the trademark name of his creation, "Aunt Jemima".
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:38 PM
12568
* The Savoy hotel opens in London.
* Recording technology reaches marketable acceptance.
* The centennial of George Washington's inauguration becomes the first observed U.S. national holiday.
* William Gray from Hartford, CT obtains the patent for the first coin-operated telephone.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:43 PM
12569
In 1958, William A. Higinbotham invents a very primitive 'video game' for the first time. It's a prototype Tennis game, and becomes a linchpin in lawsuits and countersuits involving Atari and Maganavox in the 1970s (between Pong, home Pong, and Magnavox's Odyssey).
See
http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play1sta1.htm
for far more details than I can post here.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:46 PM
12570
Other events and facts from 1958 start with this post:
* There are approximately 2550 computer systems in the United States.
* Approximately 47.1 million transistors are produced, compared to 397.4 million vacuum tubes.
* Under the U.S. Congressional 'Space Act', NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is formed, taking over the role of the National Advisory Comittee on Aeronautics.
(if you really want to irritate someone who's been involved in astronomy and the space sciences since the 50s, call NASA's precursor NACA [NA-KA] out loud. Drives them crazy. Apparently it was always pronounced En-A-See-A)
* Alaska is brought into America as the 49th state of the union.
* EMI releases the first sterophonic record album.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:50 PM
12571
More factoids from 1958:
* Seymour Cray builds the first fully-transistorized super-computer, the CDC (Control Data Corporation) 1604.
* The first transatlantic jet flight is flown by PanAm, from New York City to Paris.
* The Canadian Broadcasting Company's microwave broadcasting system is the largest television network in the world.
* A federal investigation into the Twenty-One game show scandal begins.
The show and scandal were the subject of the 1994 movie Quiz Show (an excellent movie, IMHO). Lots of supervision of game shows were put into place, and there wasn't another scandal until the infamous Press Your Luck incident in 1984.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 10:53 PM
12572
Other factoids from 1958
* The Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat the Edmonton Eskimos in the first CFL game, 29 to 21.
* ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency - the agency that spawns the ARPANet, which subsequently becomes the Internet) is one year old.
* Elvis Presley's burgeoning music career is interrupted as he joins the U.S. army at a Memphis, Tennessee induction center.
* IBM announces computer models 7070 and 7090, among the first to be fully transistorized.
You'll notice mention of 'fully transistorized' computers in this and the previous post. Remember that before the transistor was invented at Bell Labs all computers ran on vacuum tubes, and were HUGE.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:01 PM
12573
And also in 1958:
* 111 people take part in the first U.S. domestic passenger jet trip, consisting of a National 707 flight from New York City to Miami.
* Johnny Hart's prehistoric comic strip "B.C." first sees print.
* Jack Tramiel moves his Commodore Portable Typewriter company from the Bronx to Toronto and renames it Commodore Business Machines. It is a typewriter sales and repair shop.
* Vladimir Nabokov's controversial book "Lolita" is published.
* The US Army launches the first American earth satellite Explorer I from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It contains Texas Instruments transistors, along with an experiement by James Van Allen which discovers Earth's radiation belt.
* Videotape is invented the previous year (1957) by Ampex in Sunnyvale, California.
* Arnold Palmer wins his first Masters tournament.
* Coach George "Punch" Imlach takes the helm of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
* The first public demonstration against nuclear weapons takes place in Aldermaston, England.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:06 PM
12574
The next computer/video game milestone was in 1962, the year Spacewar is invented on a PDP-1 computer at MIT.
Again, see
http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play1sta1.htm
for details.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:08 PM
12575
Also in 1962:
* IBM U.S. reaches over $1 billion in computer sales, beating its other interests for the first time in the company's history.
* EDS (Electronic Data Systems) of Dallas Texas is founded by 32 year old Ross Perot with an initial outlay of $1000.
* The first U.S. Army troops move into Vietnam.
* The world teeters on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
* Hewlett-Packard, making electronic testing and measuring equipment, breaks into Fortune Magazine's top 500 US companies listing for the first time. It ranks #460.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:10 PM
12576
Other details from 1962:
* First use of Agent Orange defoliant in Vietnam.
* Barbara Striesand signs her first recording contract, with Columbia Records.
* John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the Earth.
* Bell Telephone introduces radio paging in the U.S.
* First communications satellite Telstar I is launched, allowing transcontinental audio and video transmissions.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:12 PM
12577
Continuing 1962:
* Bob Dylan's first album is released.
* Mariner 2 becomes the first interplanetary spacecraft launched from Earth, passing within 34,773 kilometers of the planet Venus and providing the first up-close view of this second planet from the Sun.
* Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as Beatles drummer. The group releases its first record, called "Love Me Do".
* There are over 70 million TV sets installed in American homes. Over 90 percent of homes have at least one.
* Johnny Carson replaces Jack Parr as host of the "Tonight" show (and continues doing so for the next 30 years)
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:21 PM
12578
And finally, from 1962:
* At the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe is found lying on her bed naked, dead from an apparent self-inflicted overdose of barbiturates. Due to missing evidence and conflicting testimony, the exact nature of her death is surrounded in controversy, and leads to many questions including her relationship with the Kennedy family and Bobby Kennedy in particular.
* "West Side Story" wins 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Direction, and two Supporting Actor Oscars.
* The Milwaukee Braves' "Hammering" Hank Aaron hits his 500th home run.
* Stanley Kubrick's controversial film "Lolita" opens (four years after the book was published).
* The James Bond series starts with "Dr. No" (and has gone on for 40 years and 20 films, to date)
* 18 year-old bricklayer's apprentice Peter Fechter is shot while trying to escape East Berlin over the Berlin Wall, erected almost exactly one year before. At the base of the wall in no-man's-land, he lay bleeding to death and crying for help for a full 50 minutes before dying. He becomes the 50th victim of the wall.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:24 PM
12579
A decade later, the arcade game and home video game, more or less as we know them now, were born.
Ralph Baer invents what becomes Magnavox's Odyssey home game system, and Nolan Bushnell uses Spacewar as the basis for "Computer Space" - the first standup arcade game. It was a dud. His second game, Pong, was a huge hit, and put Atari on the map. It also started a series of lawsuits between Atari and Magnavox.
Two legendary computer games also were created at this time: Hunt the Wumpus and Adventure.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:34 PM
12580
But going back a bit, I found some details on the early days of Nintendo:
Donkey Kong - Nintendo 1889 is a very important year in videogame history. Yes, that's 1889. It is this year when Fusajiro Yamauchi founds Nintendo Koppai in Kyoto, Japan. The name Nintendo roughly translates to "Work hard, but in the end it is in Heaven's Hands", and the company's products are lovingly handcrafted Hanafunda playing cards made from the bark of mulberry trees. The cards are decorated by various symbols, which change depending on the region they're sold in. Hanafunda games constitute a popular pastime in Japan, and Yamauchi's cards are adopted by the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, as their cards of choice when gambling. Their penchant for fresh cards every hand keep demand high. After expanding into Western style playing cards in 1907, the company becomes the largest playing card manufacturer in Japan. In 1933 they become Yamauchi Nintendo & Company, and then under the auspices of third president Hiroshi Yamauchi becomes Nintendo Playing Cards in 1951. Their real breakthrough comes in 1959 with a contract with Walt Disney Co. to produce cards featuring Disney cartoon characters, with the series going on to sell 600,000 packs that year. With another name change to Nintendo Co. Ltd., they move into electronics in 1963, producing light-beam gun games, toy robotic arms, and even love-testers.
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:36 PM
12581
For further details about how Nintendo got into video games (including Radarscope, a knock off of Galaxian, and Donkey Kong, their first success), see
http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play2sta4.htm
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:40 PM
12582
I'm going to try to do all the 1971/72 stuff in one mega post, as I'm getting tired. :P
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:42 PM
12583
* Integrated Electronics (Intel) introduces the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004. Selling for around $200USD, the 1/6" x 1/8" chip has the approximate computing power of an entire 1946 era ENIAC computer.
* "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" debuts on CBS as a mid-season replacement.
* The first digital watch is designed by Pulsar.
* Apollo 17 is the last manned mission to the moon for 30 years (longer than that!).
* "Duel" airs as a Saturday Night Movie on CBS. Telling the tale of harried driver Dennis Weaver's battle against an imposing tractor-trailer rig whose driver he never sees, it is director Steven Spielberg's first stint at long-form film-making (and is coming soon to DVD).
* The term 'Silicon Valley' is coined by Don Hoefler in a trade journal.
* The Coca-Cola company airs thier "Hilltop" TV ad, featuring a group of young people on a hillside in Italy singing the company's version of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", which becomes one of the most recognized corporate jingles of all time. 1971 also sees the "Crying Indian" anti-litter ad from environmental organization Keep America Beautiful, new slogans from McDonalds (You deserve a break today) and American Express (Don't leave home without it), and introduces Life cereal with the cry "Hey Mikey! He likes it!".
* CBS TV series "Hogan's Heroes" ends its six year run.
* Anik I, Canada's first telecommunications satellite, is launched. It can relay 12 channels simultaneously.
* IBM reaches over $2 billion in sales.
* Warner Bros. releases Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange", which earns an X rating in US theatres (these days it only carries an R rating, and is notable because it used the US version of the book, which only had 20 chapters. the full version has 21, and a very different ending).
* Kenback I, the first personal computer, is built by John Blankenbaker. Input is made by a series of switches, and output comes in the form of blinking lights above them.Priced at $750USD, only 40 are eventually sold.
* The Ford Pinto rolls off the assembly line and into automotive infamy when it is discovered later that its faulty design makes the fuel tank a veritable molotov cocktail in low-speed rear-end collisions. A recall is finally ordered in 1978.
* The first "memory disk", an 200K 8" flexible storage disk soon to be known as the "floppy", is invented by IBM engineer Alan Shugart. He later founds premiere media storage company Seagate (floppies eventually shrank to 3.5 inches with a capacity of 2.88 megabytes, but the 1.44 High Density format is the one still most widely used).
* "Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138: 4EB", an award-winning student film short made at USC in 1966, is redone to feature length size as simply "THX 1138" by its creator...George Lucas.
* While attending high school, Steve Jobs meets and befriends fellow co-worker Steve Wozniak at their part-time job at Hewlett-Packard.
* The moon rover is deployed on the lunar surface during the Apollo 15 mission.
* Mid-season replacement series "All in the Family" premieres on CBS. It runs for nine seasons, hitting #1 in the ratings for five of them.
* ARPAnet designers choose "@" to separate user names from domain names as they refine email (electronic mail) delivery. The net now includes 50 universities.
* Novel "Cyborg", by former Air Force pilot and NASA PR agent Martin Caidin, is published by Arbor House Publishing. It and three other subsequently published books by Caidin later become the inspiration for ABC's hit TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man".
* Programming language C is created by Dennis Ritchie (as based on B, and the original language of choice for UNIX).
* Having been sold by Colonel Sanders seven years earlier for US$ 2 million, KFC Corporation is bought by Heublein Inc. for US$ 285 million.
* The first hand-held scientific calculator HP-30 is debuted by Hewlett-Packard Company for $350 USD (personally I always used TI calculators, as do a bunch of people in schools around here still :) ).
* Phase One of Walt Disney World, situated inside a total of 43 square miles of swamplands in central Florida, opens to the public. Built by 9000 workers at a cost of 400 million dollars, it is the largest private construction project in the modern world (Carl Hiaasen's Team Rodent is a hilarious and at time scary account at what goes on in Disney World).
* The compact disc is invented by Klass Compaan of Philips Research.
* Gene Wilder trips out a generation of kids as Willy Wonka in the movie version of Roald Dahl's classic children's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
* Steve Jobs begins classes at Reed College in Portland, Oregon as a Physics major. He drops out one semester later.
* Richard Adams' seminal fantasy tail "Watership Down" is released by London based book publisher Rex Collings.
* The first ever 8-bit processor, the 8008, is introduced by Intel (and now everybody's trying to move to 64-bit processors, though workstations have had them for years from SUN, Digital/Compaq and SGI).
dadaist
08-05-2003, 11:51 PM
12584
I'm calling it quits here for the night.
All yours Cheyanne
Cheyanne
08-05-2003, 11:57 PM
12585
LOL ok dadaist.....
The Cyborg novel sounds interesting... will have to find it.. :D
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:01 AM
12586
At last check, the governor of Arkansas makes $60,000 a year. His salary is the lowest of all 50 states. A dozen or so states pay their governors more than $100,000 year, generally the more populous states. California pays its governor $131,000. Illinois comes in second at $130,000 and change, with New York, a close third at $130,000 even.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:02 AM
12587
Lyndon B. Johnson was the first president of the United States to wear contact lenses.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:02 AM
12588
President Teddy Roosevelt died from an "infected tooth."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:03 AM
12589
Money man Cornelius Vanderbilt was an insomniac and a believer in the occult. He was not able to fall asleep unless each leg of his bed was planted in a dished filled with salt. He felt this kept out the evil spirits. It also kept out the snails, ants, and anyone with high blood pressure.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:04 AM
12590
Artist Andy Warhol became famous for his painting of Campbell's Soup cans. Before that - he made his living painting shoes for advertisements.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:05 AM
12591
Flamenco dancer Jose Greco took out an insurance policy through Lloyd's of London against his pants splitting during a performance.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:05 AM
12592
Television horse Mr. Ed was foaled in 1949 in El Monte, California. Mr. Ed's original name was Bamboo Harvester. Raised as a parade and show horse he was once owned by the president of the California Palomino Society. He died in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, on February 28, 1979, at 30 years old. Tahlequah was also the "home office" for "Late Night with David Letterman's Top Ten List" for several years.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:08 AM
12593
President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to announce to the world that Maxwell House coffee is "Good to the last drop."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:09 AM
12594
Lloyd Vernet Bridges III is the birth name of actor Beau Bridges. He was given the nickname "Beau" by his family, reportedly after Ashley Wilkes's son in the classic 1939 film "Gone With the Wind."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:09 AM
12595
On April 14th, 1910, President Howard Taft began a sports tradition by throwing out the first baseball of the season. That happened at an American League game between Washington and Philadelphia. Washington won, 3-0.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:10 AM
12596
Roosevelt was the most superstitious president—he traveled continually but never left on a Friday. He also would not sit at the same table that held thirteen other people.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:11 AM
12597
George Washington was deathly afraid of being buried alive. After he died, he wanted to be laid out for three days just to make sure he was dead.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:11 AM
12598
Richard Nixon's favorite drink was a dry martini.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:12 AM
12599
Julius Caesar was self-conscious about his receding hairline.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:13 AM
12600
James Buchanon is said to have had the neatest handwriting of all the Presidents.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:13 AM
12601
Richard Nixon left instructions for "California, here I come" to be the last piece of music played (slowly and softly) were he to die in office.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:14 AM
12602
The only president to be head of a labor union was Ronald Reagan.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:14 AM
12603
When the Hoovers did not want to be overheard by White House guests, they spoke to each other in Chinese.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:15 AM
12604
Robert Kennedy was killed in the Ambassador Hotel, the same hotel that housed Marilyn Monroe's first modeling agency.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:16 AM
12605
Benjamin Franklin lived at 141 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:16 AM
12606
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.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:17 AM
12607
A short time before Lincoln's assassination, he dreamed he was going to die, and he related his dream to the Senate.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:18 AM
12608
When John Wilkes Booth leaped onto the stage after shooting the President, he tripped—on the American flag.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:18 AM
12609
Paul Cezanne had a parrot who he taught to say, "Cezanne is a great painter."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:19 AM
12610
George Washington had to borrow money so he could travel to his inauguration.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:20 AM
12611
Lyndon Johnson died one mile from the house he was born in.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:20 AM
12612
Grover Cleveland answered the White House phone, personally.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:21 AM
12613
Calvin Coolidge was sworn into office by his own father.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:22 AM
12614
Theodore Roosevelt was blind in his left eye.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:23 AM
12615
Charlie Chaplin was so popular during the 1920s and 1930s, he received over 73,00 letters in just 2 days during a visit to London
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:23 AM
12616
Warren Harding was the first US president who could drive a car.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:24 AM
12617
George Washington died the last hour of the last day of the last week of the last month of the last year of the 18th century.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:25 AM
12618
JFK was the first president born in the 20th century.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:25 AM
12619
Thomas Jefferson was once given a 1,235 pound hunk of cheese, giving us the term "the big cheese."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:26 AM
12620
President McKinley was shot while shaking hands with spectators
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:27 AM
12621
Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother both died on Feb. 14, 1884.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:27 AM
12622
James Garfield often gave campaign speeches in German.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:28 AM
12623
Leslie Lynch King, Jr. is the birth name of American President Gerald. R. Ford. Ford was the son of Leslie Lynch King and his wife Dorothy Ayer Gardner, who divorced soon after the birth of their only child. When his mother married Gerald R. Ford, Sr. in 1916, he adopted the name Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:29 AM
12624
Noah Webster was referred to as "the walking question mark" during his student days at Yale.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:29 AM
12625
Ellen DeGeneres was the first stand-up comedian Johnny Carson ever asked to sit on "The Tonight Show" guest couch during a first appearance.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:30 AM
12626
Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years on October 17, 1978. He was inaugurated six days later in a mass at St. Peter's Square, becoming John Paul II.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:31 AM
12627
Entertainers who worked in the pizza business before they became famous include Stephen Baldwin, who was a pizza parlor employee, Bill Murray, who was a pizza maker, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who delivered pizzas. Many years back, Julia Roberts and Christie Brinkley both sold ice cream. Before she made it as a pop singer, Madonna sold doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts. And in the burger arena, Jennifer Aniston was a waitress at a burger joint, Queen Latifah worked at Burger King, and Andie McDowell was employed by McDonald's.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:32 AM
12628
Lyndon Johnson's First Family all had initials LBJ. Lyndon Baines Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Linda Bird Johnson and Lucy Baines Johnson. And his dog, Little Beagle Johnson.
**wonders if the little wife ever gave LBJ a l.b.j. (little blow job)** Sick, I know..... :D
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:33 AM
12629
Orson Welles is buried in an olive orchard on a ranch owned by his friend, matador Antonio Ordonez in Sevilla, Spain.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:33 AM
12630
Jonathan Davids, lead singer for Korn, played in his high school bagpipe band.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:34 AM
12631
John F. Kennedy's rocking chair was auctioned off for $442,000
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:34 AM
12632
David Atchison, as president pro tempore of the Senate in 1849, was U-S president for one day - Sunday, March 4th - pending the inauguration of President-elect Zachary Taylor on Monday, March 5th.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:35 AM
12633
Shangri-la, the presidential hideaway near Thurmont, Maryland, was renamed Camp David in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's father and grandson on May 22, 1953.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:36 AM
12634
Actor Steve McQueen encouraged his karate teacher to pursue a career in acting. The teacher? Chuck Norris. McQueen is quoted as telling Norris, "If you can't do anything else' there's always acting."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:36 AM
12635
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate-covered garlic balls every morning. Her doctor suggested this to improve her memory.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:37 AM
12636
Rap artist Sean "Puffy" Combs had his first job at age two when he modeled in an ad for Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shops.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:38 AM
12637
One year, Elvis Presley paid 91% of his annual income to the IRS.
(bet that really sucked)
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:38 AM
12638
Steven Spielberg is Drew Barrymore's godfather. After seeing her nude in Playboy magazine, he sent her a blanket with a note telling her to cover herself up.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:39 AM
12639
Mao Zedong, like many Chinese of his time, refused to brush his teeth. Instead, he rinsed his mouth with tea and chewed the leaves. Why brush? "Does a tiger brush his teeth?" argued Mao. As you can imagine, his teeth were green. Chairman Mao also loved to chain-smoke English cigarettes, when his doctor asked him to cut down, he explained that "smoking is also a form of deep-breathing exercise, don't you think?"
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:40 AM
12640
In 1977, the legendary Groucho Marx died three days after Elvis Presley died. Unfortunately, due to the fevered commotion caused by Presley's unanticipated death, the media paid little attention to the passing of this brilliant comic. Groucho, with his talented brothers (Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo), starred in irreverent films in the 1920's through 1940's, including "Duck Soup", "A Night at the Opera", "Love Happy," and "A Day at the Races." For five decades, Groucho had worked in the industry as an actor, comedian, TV game show host, and writer, and he won an Emmy in the early days of television for Outstanding Personality.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:41 AM
12641
U.S. President Millard Fillmore's mother feared he may have been mentally retarded.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:41 AM
12642
Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:42 AM
12643
Galileo became totally blind just before his death. This is probably because of his constant gazing at the sun through his telescope.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:43 AM
12644
Mark Twain first learned to ride a bicycle at age 55.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:44 AM
12645
Ice Cube's real name is O'Shea Jackson.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:44 AM
12646
During a stage revival of the musical The King and I, star Yul Brynner reportedly acted like a prima donna, making frustrating demands of the cast and crew. One incident that escalated the friction was the London Palladium's backstage pay phone. Brynner said the phone's ringing woke him during naps, so he requested a private phone be installed in his newly redecorated dressing room (which cost $65,000 to make-over). He then had the public phone disconnected. Reportedly, cast members retaliated by pouring glue on his dressing room doorknob.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:45 AM
12647
I suppose someone should mention that Mae West never said "Come up and see me sometime." She said "Come on up sometime and see me." Cary Grant never said "Judy, Judy, Judy," and Cagney never said "You dirty rat..."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:46 AM
12648
Mary Todd once dated both Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. She chose Lincoln because he showed more promise, and she was right - he was good at everything but ducking.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:46 AM
12649
Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, remains the only person, to date, to have graduated from the West Point military academy without a single demerit.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:47 AM
12650
So far, nine presidents were elected in years divisible by 20. Six died before their term ended: William Henry Harrison (1840), Lincoln (1860), Garfield (1880), McKinley (1900), Harding (1920), and Kennedy (1960). Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected in 1940 but died in 1945, after his 1944 reelection. So that's really seven out of nine. Maybe they should be running from, not for the office this year.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:48 AM
12651
James Garfield, 20th President of the United States, lived in the White House with his mother.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:49 AM
12652
Although John F. Kennedy was reportedly an accomplished yo-yo player, the yo-yo that has commanded the highest price at auction was autographed by President Nixon. This yo-yo was given to "King of Country Music" Roy Acuff onstage at the Grand Ole Opry in 1972, after Nixon introduced Acuff's act. Acuff was famous for yo-yoing on stage and encouraged the President to try. Luckily, the President's awkward performance was captured in a classic news wire photo. The yo-yo fetched $16,029.00 at Acuff's estate auction.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:49 AM
12653
After telling the press he was an expert in hand gestures, President George Bush gave the "V-for-Victory" sign as he drove in his armored limousine past demonstrators in Canberra, Australia's capital in January 1992. In Australia, holding up two fingers to form a "V" has the same vulgar meaning as the middle-finger gesture in the United States. The Aussie demonstrators were enraged, and they signaled in the same manner back at the U.S. President. Pres. Bush later apologized for his faux pas.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:50 AM
12654
Alexander Hamilton has been credited with writing George Washington's famous Farewell Address.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:51 AM
12655
Johnny Carson was born in Corning, Iowa and grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:51 AM
12656
Prince Harry and Prince William are uncircumcised.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:52 AM
12657
Walt Disney named Mickey Mouse after Mickey Rooney, whose mother he dated for some time.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:53 AM
12658
Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch conservationist, banned Christmas trees in his home, even when he lived in the White House. His children, however, smuggled them into their bedrooms.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:53 AM
12659
The first Michelin Man costume (Bidenbum) was worn by none other than Col. Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:54 AM
12660
William Howard Taft is the only man ever to be President AND Chief Justice. The US Supreme Court appointment came second and was a job Taft enjoyed much more than the presidency.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:55 AM
12661
W.C. Fields, the great 1930s movie comedian and famous misanthrope, died on Christmas, the holiday he despised. Of all the notable quotes that issued from this notorious curmudgeon, the most often quoted, said to be from his California tombstone, is "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:56 AM
12662
Did you know that Goofy actually started life as 'Dippy Dawg,' a combination of both Goofy and Pluto.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:57 AM
12663
In January 1950, actor John Wayne placed his hand prints in wet cement at Grumman's Chinese Theatre (now Mann's Chinese Theatre) in Hollywood. Sand used in the cement reportedly was brought from Iwo Jima, in tribute to his performance in the 1949 film "Sands of Iwo Jima". This event marked the 90th such ceremony in the "Forecourt of the Stars" at the famous theater.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:57 AM
12664
Felix the Cat is the first cartoon character to ever have been made into a balloon for a parade
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:58 AM
12665
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams were all avid collectors and players of marbles. In their day, marbles were called "small bowls" and were as popular with adults as with children.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:59 AM
12666
Gerald Ford was one of the members of the Warren Commission appointed to study the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 12:59 AM
12667
Bette Davis was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 5, 1908. She passed away from cancer October 6, 1989.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:00 AM
12668
Bette Davis appeared in more than 100 films between 1931 and 1989. She made her first film called Way Back Home in 1931.
She was 5' 3 1/2" tall.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:01 AM
12669
Lucille Ball was her classmate at John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:01 AM
12670
Joan Crawford and Davis had feuded for years & during the making of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Bette had a Coca-Cola machine installed on the set due to Joan Crawford's affiliation with Pepsi. (Joan was the widow of Pepsi's CEO.) Joan got her revenge by putting weights in her pockets when Davis had to drag Crawford across the floor during certain scenes.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:02 AM
12671
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:02 AM
12672
Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:03 AM
12673
Meg Ryan turned down plum lead parts in the films "Steel Magnolias," "Pretty Woman," and "Silence of the Lambs." A few years after her rejection of "Silence of the Lambs," which earned Jodie Foster a Best Actress Oscar, Ryan disclosed to Barbara Walters in a television interview that she had felt the role "was dangerous and a little ugly. I felt it was too dark - for me."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:04 AM
12674
By age 16, Andre the Giant (who's real name is Andre Russimof) was 6'10' tall. He had a rare glandular disorder that made his body continue to grow. Even as he died, his body was still growing.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:05 AM
12675
In her entire lifetime, Spain's Queen Isabella (1451-1504) bathed twice.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:05 AM
12676
Before he pursued his acting career, Jack Nicholson worked as an office boy in MGM's cartoon department.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:06 AM
12677
Marvin Hamlisch became the youngest pupil ever at the Julliard School of Music - at age 7.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:07 AM
12678
When 7-year-old Shirley Temple’s life was insured with Lloyd’s, the contract stipulated that no benefits would be paid if the child film star met with death or injury while intoxicated.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:07 AM
12679
Frank Sinatra was once quoted as saying rock 'n' roll was only played by 'cretinous goons'.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:08 AM
12680
Grover Cleveland, the 24th president of the US, worked briefly as an executioner before becoming president. He hung at least two convicted criminals.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:09 AM
12681
Winston Churchill, prime minister of England during World War II, superstitiously feared January 24 because he was certain it was destined to be the day of his death. Churchill's father had died on that date. Churchill did indeed die on January 24, 1965.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:10 AM
12682
Hitler was claustrophobic. They had to install a mirror in an elevator just to keep him from being scared.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:10 AM
12683
Desi Arnaz's (Ricky Ricardo from "I Love Lucy") father was mayor of Santiago, Cuba, and his mother the daughter of one of the founders of Bacardi Rum. His family went into exile after the coup that brought Fulgencio Batista to power in 1934. The family made its new home in Miami, Florida. Desi's best friend in high school - Al Capone, Jr.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:11 AM
12684
More than 100 descendants of Johann Sebastian Bach have been cathedral organists.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:11 AM
12685
Green Bay Packers backup quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, has been struck by lightning twice in his life.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:12 AM
12686
"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know I'm not blonde." -Dolly Parton
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:13 AM
12687
"You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy."—Erica Jong
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:13 AM
12688
The Taco Bell dog is a girl. Her name is Gidget.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:14 AM
12689
Howard Hughes once made half a billion dollars in one day. In 1966, he received a bank draft for $546,549,171.00 in return for his 75% holdings in TWA.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:15 AM
12690
William Shatner went to Balfour Collegiate (Regina, Saskatchewan) during his high school years.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:15 AM
12691
President John Tyler had fifteen children.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:16 AM
12692
Attila the Hun was a dwarf. Pepin the Short, Aesop, Gregory the Tours, Charles 3 of Naples, and the Pasha Hussein were all less than 3.5 feet tall.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:17 AM
12693
President Grover Cleveland was a draft dodger. He hired someone to enter the service in his place, for which he was ridiculed by his political opponent, James G. Blaine. It was soon discovered, however, that Blaine had done the same thing himself.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:18 AM
12694
Rita Moreno is the first and only entertainer to have received all 4 of America's top entertainment industry awards: the Oscar, the Emmy, the Tony and the Grammy.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:18 AM
12695
James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing his entire middle finger on his right hand.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:19 AM
12696
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid $772,500 for President John F. Kennedy's golf clubs at a 1996 auction.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:20 AM
12697
The author of Roberts' Rules of Order, Col. Roberts of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, is also famous as the engineer in charge of designing the Seawall in Galveston, Texas. This Seawall was constructed after the famous hurricane of 1900 which hit Galveston, killing thousands.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:20 AM
12698
Whoopi Goldberg was a mortuary cosmetologist and a bricklayer before becoming an actress.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:21 AM
12699
Arnold Schwarzenegger began his transition from Austrian bodybuilder into an American film star when he made his screen debut in 1970 under the name "Arnold Strong" in "Hercules Goes Bananas."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:22 AM
12700
During World War II, W.C. Fields kept US $50,000 in Germany 'in case the little bastard wins'
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:23 AM
12701
For a while Frederic Chopin, the composer and pianist, wore a beard on only one side of his face. 'It does not matter,' he explained. 'My audience sees only my right side.'
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:23 AM
12702
Clark Gable used to shower more than 4 times a day.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:24 AM
12703
Charles Dickens kept the head of his bed aligned with the North Pole. He believed that the earth's magnetic field would pass longitudinal through his body and ensure him a good night rest.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:25 AM
12704
Mae West was once dubbed 'The statue of Libido'.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:25 AM
12705
Jimmy Carter is a speed reader (2000 wpm)
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:26 AM
12706
Adam Sandler and Bill Gates rank number 1 and 2 among the most popular role models with male college freshmen.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:27 AM
12707
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, learned Braille so that he could rest his eyes and still read. Huxley's eyes pained him when he read too much and his eyesight was failing. One of the benefits of learning Braille, Huxley said, was being able to read in the bed in the dark.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:27 AM
12708
In 1996, Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for applesauce, which coincidentally is what his name means in Japanese.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:28 AM
12709
Bob Dole is 10 years older than the Empire State Building.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:29 AM
12710
Before coming to the White House, Nancy and Ronald Reagan were actors. During their earlier careers each was involved in a performance that foreshadowed their later lives. In 1939, the then Nancy Davis had one line in a high school play called, eerily enough, "First Lady." It was, "They ought to elect the First Lady and then let her husband be president." She and her future husband also appeared in an episode of the "General Electric TV Theater" called "A Turkey for the President".
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:29 AM
12711
John Lennon's middle name was Winston.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:30 AM
12712
Before beginning his movie career, Keanu Reeves managed a pasta shop in Toronto, Canada.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:31 AM
12713
Anthea Turner, Walt Disney, Tom Cruise, Susan Hampshire, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Edison, Henry Winkler, Cher, Brian Conley, and Leonardo DaVinci are, or were, dyslexic.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:31 AM
12714
George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:32 AM
12715
The first president to appear on television was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was seen by U.S. viewers at the opening of the New York World's Fair on April 30, 1939.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:33 AM
12716
Mystery writer Agatha Christie acquired her extensive knowledge of poisons while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:33 AM
12717
Howard Hughes' original fortune came from his father's invention of an oil drill bit capable of boring through subterranean rock.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:34 AM
12718
Recording star Vanilla Ice's real name is Robert Van Winkle.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:35 AM
12719
Shirley Temple made $1 million by the age of 10.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:35 AM
12720
King Kong was Adolf Hitler's favorite movie
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:36 AM
12721
Mickey Mouse was the first non-human to win an Oscar.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:36 AM
12722
Napoleon was terrified of cats.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:37 AM
12723
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992. The vehicle weighed in at 6,300 lbs and was 7 feet wide.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:38 AM
12724
The godfather of actress Winona Ryder was the late Dr. Timothy Leary, LSD guru of the 1960s. Winona’s father, Michael Horowitz, served at one time as Leary’s archivist and ran a bookstore called Flashback Books. Additionally, her parents were politically active intellectuals, and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was a good family friend.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:39 AM
12725
Before he catapulted to fame, Bob Dylan was paid $50 in 1960 for playing the harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:39 AM
12726
Richard M. Nixon, as a young naval officer in World War II, set up the only hamburger stand in the South Pacific. Nixon's Snack Shack served free burgers and Australian beer to flight crews.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:40 AM
12727
On "forever-39" Jack Benny's 80th birthday, Frank Sinatra gave him two copies of the book "Life Begins at Forty."
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:41 AM
12728
Bill Cosby was the first black to win a best actor Emmy.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:42 AM
12729
About the Brain
Nerve messages move at 240 mph.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:43 AM
12730
Your brain is mostly water, 80 percent. Your blood actually is less fluid (or more solid) than your brain.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:43 AM
12731
If you could harness the power used by your brain, you could power as a 10-watt light bulb.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:45 AM
12732
You may have a true split personality. According to one school of thought, the left hemisphere of your brain may tend toward acceptance and positiveness while the right hemisphere is more concerned with negative and avoidance thoughts or behaviors.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:45 AM
12733
The brain of an elephant is four times bigger than a human brain
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:46 AM
12734
The animal with the largest brain compared to the size of its body is an ant.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:46 AM
12735
Human brains weigh about 44 to 50 ounces. The biggest brain in any class of apes is only about 16 ounces
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:47 AM
12736
Have you ever tried to sell something big to someone, who tells you, "I'll have to sleep on it." There is validity to this technique. A person can enhance their decision making power while sleeping. This is done through dreams. It seems that while dreaming we are practicing our thinking skills, and more specifically, reprocessing our thoughts and activities of the previous day. We are able to see issues more clearly the next day, and therefore make better decisions, because we have new power. We have let our brain process the issue overnight. This is an essential trait to survival.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:48 AM
12737
Goofy Laws
When Peter the Great, who couldn't grow a respectable beard, was in power, any Russian who had a beard was required to pay a beard tax.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:49 AM
12738
During the 1920's there was a law in Russia that all private automobiles (not ones used by the government) had to have a yellow stripe painted all the way around the whole body.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:49 AM
12739
Don't get caught chewing gum in Singapore. For this horrible offense, you could be fined $6,250.00 or spend a year in jail. The reason might be that politicians were tired of cleaning gum off their shoes.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:50 AM
12740
There are about 10,000 injuries related to fireworks every year in America.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:50 AM
12741
There is an actual court case on record named: "The United States v. 350 Cartons of Canned Sardines." It has something to do with interstate commerce
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:51 AM
12742
In Kentucky it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:52 AM
12743
In Illinois, prison inmates were offered free plastic surgery to change their faces. Of those who elected to become "new men" their rate of committing new crimes after release was less than average.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:52 AM
12744
If you live in Kentucky, you must take a bath at least once per year. It's the law
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:53 AM
12745
In Massachusetts you can't legally use tomatoes in clam chowder
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:54 AM
12746
In New York City, it is illegal to greet anyone "by placing the end of his thumb against the tip of his nose, at the same time extending and wriggling the fingers of his hand.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:55 AM
12747
There is a law against shooting rabbits from a New York City trolley car.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:57 AM
12748
Having a bad day? Check these out....
On the night of July 5, 1991, while sleeping soundly with his wife, a police officer dreamed that someone was breaking into their house. Half waking up, he grabbed his gun from his night stand and promptly shot himself in the leg. His wife slept through it. He was reported in satisfactory condition at the local hospital.
Cheyanne
08-06-2003, 01:57 AM
12749
As a promotional stunt at a baseball game in 1939 catcher Joe Sprinz tried to catch a baseball dropped from 1,200 feet in the air. He said he could see the ball all the way down, but somehow instead of catching it in his mitt, it hit him in the face, cracking his jaw in 12 places.
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