FYI

Here are some interesting, but true facts, that you may or may not have known.
1. The Statue of Liberty's index finger is eight feet long.
2. Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
3. A 75 year old person will have slept about 23 years.
4. Boeing 747's wing span is longer than the Wright brothers' first flight.
5. There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans.
6. One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
7. The word "set" has the most number of definitions in the English language.
8. Sharks can live up to 100 years.
9. Mosquitos are more attracted to the color blue than any other color.
10. Kangaroos can't walk backwards.
11. About 75 acres of pizza are eaten in in the U.S. everyday.
12. The largest recorded snowflake was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick. It fell in Montana in 1887.
13. The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom.
14. Former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency.
15. Koalas and humans are the only animals that have finger prints.
16. There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human.
17. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery had in it to begin with.
18. The world's largest Montessori school is in India, with 26,312 students in 2002.
19. Octopus have three hearts.
20. If you ate too many carrots, you would turn orange.
21. The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change.
22. 1 in 2,000,000,000 people will live to be 116 or old.
23. The body has 2-3 million sweat glands.
24. Sperm whales have the biggest brains: 20 lbs.
25. Tiger shark embroyos fight each other in their mother's womb. The survivor is born.
26. Most cats are left pawed.
27. 250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
28. A Blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant.
29. You use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Keep Smiling!
30. Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours.

Word History

My friend Vern posted this on Facebook today:

I love language trivia. Here are a few things I have picked up over the years regarding the origin of terms, and how they have become a part of our everyday vernacular.

1- "The Whole Nine Yards" : During World War II the heavy bombers over Europe were armed with .50 cailber heavy machine guns. A bandolier of ammo for these guns was nine yards long. If you shot a whole bandolier at the same enemy fighter that was called giving them "The Whole Nine Yards"

2- "Hooker" : In early colonial New York City most of the prostitutes hung out down on the waterfront on "Hook" street. Therefore the ladies walking that street became know as "Hookers"

3- "Rule of Thumb" : This one is kind of sinister. Apparently back in medieval times it was socially acceptable for a man to beat his wife as long as the device he used was no bigger in diameter than his thumb. Hence the term "Rule of Thumb"