“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”
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Fact day again on the fasab blog.
Another twenty things you probably don’t know now, but not to worry, you will do soon if you read on.
Enjoy.
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Before Gmail, “G-Mail” was the name of a free
email service offered by Garfield’s website.
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In America the bonnets and caps of city fire hydrants
are painted certain colors to alert firefighters
to the amount of water pressure available from that hydrant.
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It isn’t water itself that conducts electricity,
but the impurities found in it.
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Richard Hollingshead of Camden, N.J., built the first
drive-in theater in his driveway.
The idea was inspired by his mother who was a large woman
who found the seats at regular movie theaters uncomfortable.
He made it with a sheet strung between two trees and
a movie projector mounted to the hood of his car.
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Washington state’s Mt. Rainier is the tallest
volcano in the contiguous United States,
measuring nearly 14,500 feet in height.
It last erupted in 1854.
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Despite their menacing appearance and fierce name,
dragonflies cannot sting and are harmless to human beings.
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When referring to China, make sure
to say the People’s Republic of China.
Leave off “People’s” and you’re talking about Taiwan.
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Approximately one quarter of the United States’
homeless population are war veterans.
(Shameful statistic!)
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The inventors of bubble wrap,
Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes,
were originally trying to make plastic wallpaper.
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The toilet featured in Hitchcock’s Psycho
was the first flushing toilet to appear on-screen.
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Frankincense, one of the precious items
the wise men gave the baby Jesus,
was actually an ancient form of chewing gum
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The poinsettia is named after former
congressman and ambassador Joel Poinsett,
who introduced the plant to the United States in the 1800s.
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Peridots are the only gems that
have been found in meteorites.
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The longest jellyfish on record measured 160 feet,
more than half the length of a football field.
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All holly trees are gender specific – male or female.
Only the female holly tree bears fruit (berries),
and in order to do so there must be a male
pollinated tree within a two mile radius of her.
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Two-thirds of the world’s lawyers live in the United States.
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The Hard Rock Café got its name from a now-defunct bar that
appeared on the back of the Doors’ album Morrison Hotel.
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When cranberries are ripe, they bounce like a rubber ball.
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Due to the “naughty” dancing of the can-can girls and
the scantily clad models on 1800s French postcards,
the British equated anything risqué with France.
In fact, that’s how the phrase “pardon my French” entered the vernacular.
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Scott Joplin’s famous piano song, “Maple Leaf Rag,”
was not named for the leaf or for Canada:
it was named for the Maple Leaf Club,
a social gathering place in Sedalia, Missouri.
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