TRIVIA: * Pepsi originally contained pepsin, thus the name. * Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age. * The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado. * If you were born in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the Manhattan project (where they made the atomic bomb), your birthplace was listed as a post office box in Albuquerque. * Robert Kennedy was killed in the Ambassador Hotel, the same hotel that housed Marilyn Monroe's first modelling agency. * Ronald Regan sent out the army photographer who first discovered Marilyn Monroe. * Carbonated water, with nothing else in it,can dissolve limestone, talc, and many other low-Moh's hardness minerals. Coincidentally, carbonated water is the main ingredient in soda pop. * Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox, Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T. * The newest dog breed is the Bull Boxer, first bred in the United states in 1990-91. * The first hard drive available for the Apple had a capacity of 5 megabytes. * South of Tucson, Arizona, all road signs are in the Metric System. * The real name of Astro (the dog fromThe Jetsons) is "Tralfaz" -- his real owner appeared one day to claim him but wound up giving him back to the Jetsons. * Charlie Brown's father was a barber. * Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intraveinously * When a film is in production, the last shot of the day is the "martini shot", the next to last one is the "Abby Singer". * Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.) Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the U.S., but technically it is number 47. Until August 7, 1953, Congress forgot to vote on a resolution to admit Ohio to the Union. * It is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly -- so says City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, California. * If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar. * Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life! What about milk, you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living! * When Saigon fell the signal for all Americans to evacuate was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" being played on the radio. * The Fort George Point in Belize City was formed by the silt runoff of Hurricane Hattie. * If you lace your shoes from the inside to the outside the fit will be snugger around your big toe. * Only 1/3 of the people that can twitch their ears can twitch only one at a time. * The expression "What in tarnation" comes from the original meaning: "What in eternal damnation" * Gary Burgough who played Walter Radar O'Reily on M*A*S*H has a deformed left thumb. If you watch closely you will see that he never shows his left hand. * Only two states' names begin with double consonants: Florida and Rhode Island. * The volume of the Earth's moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean * Ingrown toenails are hereditary. * The Cincinnati Reds baseball team name was officially changed to the Redlegs during the anti-communist movement. * Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance. * "Xmas" does not begin with the Roman letter X. It begins with the Greek letter "chi," which was used in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation for the word "Christ" (xus = christus, etc.) * The ampersand (&) is actually a stylised version of the Latin word "et," meaning and." * The largest city in the United States with a one syllable name is Flint, Michigan. * The most common name in the world is Mohammed. * Michael Jordan makes made money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined. * On the cartoon show 'The Jetsons', Jane is 33 years old and her daughter Judy is 15. * In Mel Brooks' 'Silent Movie,' mime Marcel Marceau is the only person who has a speaking role. * No NFL team which plays it's home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl. (Texas Stadium, home of the Cowboys, is not a dome, there is a large hole in the roof.) * The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language. * The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver". Wally and Beaver had a baby alligator which they kept in the toilet. * In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured * The most eastern part of the western world is located in Ilomantsi, Finland. * "Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting." * The term the "Boogey Man will get you" comes from the Boogey people,who still inhabit an area of Indonesia. These people still act as pirates today and attack ships that pass. Thus the term spread "if you don't watch out the Boogey man will get you." * The Saturn V moon rocket consumed 15 tons of fuel per second. * The state with the longest coastline in the US is Michigan. * Race car is a palindrome. * There were four consecutive full moons making two blue moons in 1999 (January 2 and 31, March 2 and 31.) The only other time it happened the 20th century was in 1915 (January 1 and 31, March 1 and 31.) * The Basset Horn, a kind of alto clarinet, was named after its inventor -- a man named Horn. "Basset" is from "Basetto," or "little bass" in Italian. * There are more bald eagles in the province of British Columbia then there are in the whole United States. * Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
BELL, HENRY Henry Bell (1767-1830) was a Scottish engineer and inventor who built a steam-powered boat in 1812. His 12-foot (3.5-meter) steamboat, called the Comet, was the first commercially successful steamship in Europe. This boat regularly sailed between Greenock and Glasgow (Scotland) along the River Clyde. The Comet was the beginning of a revolution in navigation.
KAMEN, DEAN Dean Kamen is an American inventor who has invented many revolutionary devices and holds over 35 U.S. patents. He developed the portable medical infusion pump, which allows patients to receive medication, like insulin, away from the hospital, and has allowed diabetic women to carry and deliver babies much more safely. Kamen designed the iBot, a revolutionary wheelchair (that uses gyroscopes and computers) that the user "wears" - it allows increased mobility (it can even climb stairs) and improved social interaction (the user can "stand"). He also invented intravascular stents (devices that hold blocked arteries open) and the portable kidney dialysis machine, which has enabled kidney dialysis patients to avoid long hospital visits - they can do the dialysis themselves while they sleep. The segway, his new personal vehicle, may revolutionize transportation. Kamen founded an educational learning center for children called Science Enrichment Encounters (or "SEE"), and FIRST ("For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology") which has a yearly robot competition for high school students.
VELCRO George de Mestral was a Swiss engineer who invented Velcro in 1948. While hiking, he had noticed that burrs (burdock seeds) stuck to his clothing extraordinarily well. The burrs had hook-like protrusions that attached themselves firmly to clothing. Mestral used this same model to develop Velcro, which consists of one strip of nylon with loops, and another with hooks. Mestral patented Velcro in 1957. It was originally used mostly for fastening clothes, but is now used to fasten many other things.
QUOTES: "When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." --Abraham Maslow
"Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer." --David Acfield
"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries." --Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
"Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?" --Kelvin Throop III
"More important than learning how to recall things is finding ways to forget things that are cluttering the mind." --James Waddell Alexander
"It is easy to forget that the most important aspect of comedy, after all, its great saving grace, is its ambiguity. You can simultaneously laugh at a situation, and take it seriously." --Stephen Fry
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." --P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
"A zebra does not change its spots." --Al Gore
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." --Mark Twain.
CHUCKLES AND BELLY LAUGHS New Exercise Program This program was suggested by Carol Hilpman, Sue's sister from Kansas City, Mo Just came across this exercise suggested for those of us in our middle ages, to build muscle strength in the arms and shoulders. It seems so easy, so I thought I'd pass it on. The article suggested doing it three days a week. Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb. potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides, and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax. Each day, you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb. potato sacks. Then 50-lb. potato sacks, and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks; but be careful.
True Grandma story. Just For Grins My family and I were at a large Flea market shopping one weekend. My grandson and I were looking at some wrap-around dresses that I thought were just beautiful, but not something a "grandmother" type should wear. They were very "exposing". I told my grandson I thought they were the prettiest dresses I have ever seen and wished I could wear something like that. He asked me why I couldn’t, so I told him. "Oh, I'm way too old and fat for that style." He looked up at me and said, "Grandma, you are one of the prettiest ladies I have ever seen, and you don't even look old. You're not fat either!" Just as I was deciding to buy him ANYTHING he wanted at that flea market, he finished with, "You just have a big butt!" I was laughing so hard I had to sit down.
How to give a cat a pill 1. Grasp cat firmly in your arms. Cradle its head on your elbow, just as if you were giving baby a bottle. Coo confidently, "Thats a nice kitty." Drop pill into its mouth. 2. Retrieve cat from top of lamp, and pill from under sofa. 3. Follow same procedure as in 1, but hold cat's front paws down with left hand and back paws down with elbow of right arm. Poke pill into its mouth with right forefinger. 4. Retrieve cat from under bed. Get new pill from bottle. (Resist impulse to get new cat.) 5. Again proceed as in 1, except when you have cat firmly cradled in bottle-feeding position, sit down on edge of chair, fold your torso over cat, bring your right hand over your left elbow, open cat's mouth by lifting the upper jaw and pop the pill in - quickly. Since your head is down by your knees, you won't be able to see what you're doing. That's just as well. 6. Leave cat hanging on drapes. Leave pill in your hair. 7. If you're a woman, have a good cry. If you're a man, have a good cry. 8. Now pull yourself together. Who's the boss here anyway? Retrieve cat and pill. Assuming position 1, say sternly, "Who's the boss here, anyway?" Open cat's mouth, take pill and...Oooops! 9. This isn't working, is it? Collapse and think. Aha! Those flashing claws are causing the chaos. 10. Crawl to linen closet. Drag back large beach towel. Spread towel on floor. 11. Retrieve cat from kitchen counter and pill from potted plant. 12. Spread cat on towel near one end with its head over long edge. 13. Flatten cat's front and back legs over its stomach. (Resist impulse to flatten cat.) 14. Roll cat in towel. Work fast; time and tabbies wait for no man-or woman. 15. Resume position 1. Rotate your left hand to cat's head. Press its mouth at the jaw hinges like opening the petals of a snapdragon. 16. Drop pill into cat's mouth and poke gently. Voila! It's done. 17. Vacuum up loose fur (cat's). Apply bandages to wounds (yours). 18. Take two aspirins and lie down.
Furniture salesman. Tom Livingston for this one. Harold had been out of school for several years. He had established a furniture store in Knoxville TN., and was doing quite well. He decided to expand the lines he carried by adding some expensive French furn-iture he knew no one else in town carried. He scheduled a buying trip to France. Harold's first day in Paris was very successful and he found a number of pieces he thought he could profitably sell back home. After the arrangements were made to begin shipping this furniture to TN., he decided to celebrate with a glass of wine in a small sidewalk cafe. The place was jammed, but he managed to find an empty table. Just about the time his wine arrived, a beautiful girl came by and motioned to the empty chair at his table with a questioning look on her face. He assumed she wanted to sit with him and ! nodded his head "yes". The girl sat down with him The girl tried to talk to him, but, alas, he understood not one word of French. He tried to talk to her, but, alas, she understood not one word of English. He had an idea. He took a napkin and drew a wine glass and a question mark. She nodded her head "yes." They sat quietly enjoying their wine. When it was just about finished, Harold realized it was nearly time for dinner. He took another napkin and drew a picture of two people at a table eating dinner. She nodded her head "yes" and took him by the hand. She led him down the street to a very nice restaurant. They went in. The girl spoke with the head waiter and they were seated in a quiet corner where they could hear the band playing and see the dance floor.Harold could not read the menu since it was in French, so he allowed the girl l to order for him. The food was excellent and the couple thoroughly enjoyed it. After dinner, Harold took a napkin and drew a picture of a couple dancing. She nodded her head "yes" and they danced to every song the band played, whether fast or slow. When the band quit playing and began to pack away their instru-ments, the couple returned to their table. The girl took a napkin and reached for the pen. He handed it to her and she drew a picture of a four poster bed. Harold Smith is still wondering to this day how she knew he was in the furniture business.
This one went to Bud Casselberry from Fred D. Marvin found the following ransom note slipped under his front door. "Bring $50,000. to the 17th hole of your country club tomorrow at 10 A M if you ever want to see your wife alive again." But it was after one o'clock by the time he arrived at the designated meeting spot. A masked man stepped from behind a bush and demanded, "You're three hours late. What took you so long? " " Give me a break! " said Marvin, pointing to his scorecard. " I'm a 27 handicap.
THE GROANERS: From Just For Grins AMore of a groan than a grin. A thief and his girlfriend were walking down Main Street when she spotted a beautiful diamond ring in a jewelry store window. "Wow, I'd sure love to have that!" she said. "No problem, baby," the thief says, throwing a brick through the glass and grabbing the ring. A few blocks later, his girlfriend was admiring a leather jacket in another shop window. "What I'd give to own that!" she said. "Sure thing, darling," the guy says again, throwing another brick through the window and snatching the coat. Finally, turning for home, they pass a Mercedes car dealership. "Boy, I'd do anything for one of those!" she said to her boyfriend. "Forget that!" the guy moans, "Do you think I'm made of bricks or something!?"
Sorry guys! Gary n' Patti for this one A Fairy Godmother told a married couple: "For being such an exemplary married couple for 35 years, I will give you each a wish." "I want to travel around the world with my dearest husband," said the wife. The Fairy moved her magic stick and abracadabra! two tickets appeared in her hands. Now it was the husband's turn. He thought for a moment and said: "Well this moment is very romantic, but an opportunity like this only occurs once in a lifetime. So.....I'm sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than I." The wife was deeply disappointed, but a wish was a wish. The Fairy made a circle with her magic stick and.....abracadabra!...Suddenly the husband was 90 years old. Men might be idiots, but Fairies are Female!
Gary n' Patti again Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him what ?? A Super Callused Fragile Mystic Plagued with Halitosis.
Sonya VanOrder sent this blondie A Blonde enters a store that sells curtains. She tells the salesman, "I would like to buy a pair of pink curtains. The salesman assured her that they had a large selection of pink curtains. He showed her several patterns, but the blond seemed to be having a hard time choosing. Finally she selects a lovely pink floral print. The salesman asked what size curtains she needed the blond replies fifteen inches. "Fifteen inches???" asked the salesman. "That sounds very small, what room are they for?" The blond tells him that they aren't for a room; they are for her computer monitor. The surprised salesman replies, "but, Miss, computers do not have curtains!" The blond says, "Hellllooooooooo........I've got Windows!
Congratulations you have finished this week's Newsletter. I hope you have enjoyed the writings, graphics and music. You are welcome to share this information with friends and relatives regardless of their internet affiliation. I look forward to sharing this time with you again next week.