Bottom of the News - Friday, July 30, 2010

Little Known Facts Of Interest...

Good morning my fellow Rotarians. This morning we take a look at some little know facts that may possibly be of interest to you…

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result 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 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

Did you known that half of all Americans live within 50 miles of… their birthplace.

If you were to spell out numbers that you would have to go all the way to one thousand before you would find the letter "A".

All of these things have one thing in common… bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers… all were invented by women.

Did you know that honey is the only food that doesn't spoil?

Did you know that on Father’s Day there are more collect calls than any other day of the year?

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase, "goodnight, sleep tight."

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"

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.

And finally, did you know that on this very day at 7:04 pm, in 1954, St. Joseph’s Hospital, New Hampton, IA, yours truly landed on this planet as the first son of Stanley and Judy Drewelow. And the Mother Ship has never returned to claim me!

And those little known facts are the bottom of our news for this Friday, July 30, 2010.
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