Useless Info!

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using
electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The
new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed,
you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.


It took Henry Ford's Motor Company seven years to manufacture 1 million
automobiles. One hundred thirty-two working days after this figure was
reached (in 1924), the company had made 9 million more cars.

The pyramids in Egypt contain enough stone and mortar to construct a wall
10 feet high and 5 feet wide running from New York City to Los Angeles.


Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Richard Blechyden, an Englishman, had
a tea concession. On a very hot day, none of the fairgoers were interested in
drinking hot tea. Blechyden served the tea cold - and invented iced tea.

If you add "THE" in front of "IRS" it spells "THEIRS

The word SILENT contains exactly the same letters as the word LISTEN.

Amish men shave until they marry; then they grow a beard.

The first ballpoint pens sold in 1945 were priced at $12.00 apiece.

The first women flight attendants in 1930 were required to weigh no more
than 115 pounds, be nurses, and unmarried.

When Buzz Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong onto the moon's surface, he had
to be very careful to not lock the door behind him - the lunar module didn't
have a handle on the outside, so they'd have been locked out.

The top of the Eiffel Tower leans away from the sun - it can move as much as
18cm, as the metal on the side facing the sun expands in the heat. It can also
get as much as 15cm taller when the weather's hot.

"The Boston Nation," a newspaper published in Ohio during the mid-nineteenth
century, had pages seven and a half feet long and five and a half feet wide. It
required two people to hold the paper in proper reading position

Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa invented the first loaf-at-a-time
bread-slicing machine. A prototype he built in 1917 was destroyed in a fire, and
it was not until 1928 that Rohwedder had a fully functioning machine ready again.
The first commercial use of the machine was by the Chillicothe Baking Company
of Chillicothe, Missouri, which produced their first slices on July 7, 1928.Their
product, "Kleen Maid Sliced Bread", proved a success.

One has to eat 11 pounds of potatoes to put on 1 pound of weight --
a potato has no more calories than an apple.

[-:|[ Titania ]|:-]

In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous
husband, but may only do so with her bare hands.

[Gawain]

The legend of Bloody Mary has its roots in an ancient, feudal Japanese folk tale. The tale is of Kuchisake-onna, literally translated as Split-Faced Woman. The story follows.

The legend is said to originate with a young woman who lived hundreds of years ago (some versions of the legend state the Heian period) and was either the wife or concubine of a samurai. She is said to have been very beautiful but also very vain, and possibly cheating on her husband. The samurai, extremely jealous and feeling cuckolded, attacked her and slit her mouth from ear to ear, screaming "Who will think you're beautiful now?"
The urban legend picks up from this point, stating that a woman roams around at night (especially during foggy evenings), with her face covered by a surgical mask, which would not be especially unusual, as people with colds often wear masks for the sake of others in Japan. When she encounters someone (primarily children or college students), she will shyly ask, "Am I beautiful?" ("Watashi kirei?"). If the person answers yes, she will take off her mask and say, "Am I beautiful now?" ("Kore demo?"). At this point, if the victim answers "No," she will slay them or cut their mouths to resemble hers (in many versions, her weapon is a pair of scissors). If the victim tells her she is pretty a second time, she follows the victim home and slays them at the doorway to their residence, due to the fact that "kirei" (きれい), Japanese for 'pretty,' is a near homophone of "kire" (切れ), the imperative form of "to cut". In other versions of the myth if you reply yes after she removes the mask she will give you a large blood soaked ruby and walk away. Another version says that if you reply yes, she will take her scissors and cut your mouth from ear to ear, making you resemble her. On most versions of the myth she is impossible to escape, as she can either appear in front of you no matter which way you turn or can move at superhuman speeds and catch you.
During the seventies, the urban legend went that if the victim answers "You're average", they are saved. When the urban legend was revived around 2000, the answer that would save you was changed to "so-so," with the change that this answer causes the kuchisake-onna to think about what to do, and her victim can escape while she is in thought. Another way to escape while the Kuchisake-Onna is distracted is to throw candy or other sweets at her, or simply offer her candy. One other way is to ask her if you are pretty. She will get confused and leave.

[Airtia S. Cauthon]

I thought this was interesting....

In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee.

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

There are 42 dots on a pair of dice.

On the average, women dream more than men and children dream more
than adults. Overall, more people dream in black-and-white than in color.

In 1990, The Simpsons debuted as FOX network's highest-rated program, earning
high praise from critics. First introduced in 1986 in brief cartoon vignettes on The
Tracey Ullman Show, the Simpsons were named after, but not based on, creator
Matt Groening's own relatives: Groening's father and son are named Homer,
another son is named Abraham, his mother is Marge, and he has two sisters, Lisa
and Maggie. Bart's name, according to Groening, is an anagram of "brat."

The smallest of American owls, the elf owl, often nests in the Gila woodpecker's
cactus hole after the woodpecker leaves. The owl measures barely 6 inches tall.
It specializes in catching scorpions, seizing each by the tail and nipping off its
stinger. It then swallows the scorpion's body, pincers and all.

One Native American has served as vice president of the United States. Charles
Curtis of Kansas was Pres. Herbert Hoover's vice president. Curtis's mother was
a full-blooded member of the Kaw tribe.

The Animal Crackers box is designed with a string handle because the animal
shaped cookie treats introduced in 1902 as a Christmas novelty were packaged
so they could be hung from Christmas trees.

Architect James Horan was awarded $500 and a parcel of land in Washington,
D.C. for his 1792 winning design for the President's House, now known as the
White House.

Abraham Lincoln signed the first federal income tax law. The tax was 3
percent on incomes over $600.

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

George Washington was the ninth president of the United States.

The United States was established on July 04, 1776. George Washington was
inaugurated thirteen years later, on April 30, 1789. During the intervening years,
the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia drew up the Articles of
Confederation (the first American constitution). In 1781, Maryland representative
John Hanson was elected the first president of the Congress of the Confederation.
His official title was "president of the United States in Congress Assembled." After
Hanson, seven other men served as president: Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin,
Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nathaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair, and Cyrus
Griffin. In 1787, Congress held a constitutional convention. The delegates wrote
the current constitution, ratified by the states in 1788. The following year, the
ratifying states elected Washington our nation's ninth president (but the first
president under the new constitution).

[Xavier]

In his lifetime, King Louis XIII was known to have taken 5 (five) baths. All of them were unwillingly. He became king at the age of 9, and felt that his behind, since it was royal, was immune to funk. His advisors, who were behind most of the baths, disagreed.

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

Levi Strauss arrived in California during the Gold Rush, trying to sell canvas
tents to miners, but he learned what the prospectors needed most were pants.
Strauss spun canvas into gold by turning his tents into pants. They were a hit
with the miners, but some complained the rough fabric chaffed. This cause
Levi to switch to a wonderful twilled cotton imported from Nimes, France.

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

The oldest stained-glass window in the world is in the Cathedral of Augsburg,
Germany, depicting the Prophets. It dates from the second half of the eleventh
century.

Here's a link with an article and one of the images.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Kvu2i&m=1cCYUXvlKJyANL&b=_XxWe.iGMVJuAEsmzZWipw

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

It is estimated that the average person living in North America opens the
fridge 22 times daily.

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

Oscar the Grouch used to be orange. Jim Henson decided to make him green
before the second season of Sesame Street. How did Oscar explain the color
change? He said he went on vacation to the very damp Swamp Mushy Muddy
and turned green overnight.

Pic:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Kvu2i&m=1flBjfWgoZyANL&b=k45Rt0nxIpM5CCbNaUNGfw

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

During World War II, sales of the soft drink 7 UP (or 7-Up) rose to new heights.
Bottlers focused on 7 UP because it required less sugar than other soft drinks,
and sugar was being rationed for the war effort.

[Gwendolyn Zoi]

In Rain Man, Raymond memorizes a phone book up to the names Marsha
& William Gottsegen--Dustin Hoffman's real-life in-laws.

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