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New items will be added at the end of the list.
The world's first Silver Screen was in Akron, Ohio at the Majestic Theatre on
South Main Street. In 1924, projectionist Harry C. Williams coated the white
cloth screen with silver paint to better reflect the light of the movies. He
also painted the screen of the Norka Theater on East Market Street. From that,
came the phrase "silver screen" to symbolize Hollywood movies.
On October 7, 1916, Georgia Tech beat Cumberland 222-0, college football's most lopsided game! The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was founded in 1882 and is the 7th. oldest in the country. It exhibits 617 species. The Twenty Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th. century (National Academy of Engineering)
1. Electrification
Our language is enriched from many sources. From ships that sailed the seven seas came many familar phrases. Here are possible origins of some. Scuttlebutt--A scuttle was a hole cut into the side of a ship for light and air. A butt was a wooden cask for provisions, including water. Some captains did not want the crew to drink a whole cask a day, so they would scuttle a butt, put a hole halfway up the side of a cask and use that to measure the days ration of water (half a cask instead of a whole). The place to get a drink was the "scuttled butt" and it came to mean the rumors shared while waiting for a drink. "What's the scuttlebutt?" ( what's the rumor about..."
The cat o' nine tails was a whip used to punish sailors. It was kept in a
cloth bag. The phrase, "the cat's out of the bag" meant that someone was going
to be punished.
Coffee is the most popular drink worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year The first European coffee was sold in pharmacies in 1615 as a medicinal remedy. Cappuccino is so named because of the drink's peak of foam which resembles the cowl of a Capuchin friar's habit The US Navy used to serve alcoholic beverages on board ships. However when Admiral Josephus "Joe" Daniels became Chief of Naval Operations, he outlawed alcohol on board ships, except for very special occasions. Coffee then became the drink of choice, hence the term "Cup of Joe". A mature coffee tree will produce one pound of coffee per growing season
All coffee is grown within 1,000 miles of the equator, from the Tropic of
Cancer in the north, to the Tropic of Capricorn in the south. Hawaii is the
only state of the United States in which coffee is commercially grown.
Did you know these facts about Texas? The name Texas comes from tejas, an Indian word meaning friendly.
In the 1860s, longhorn cattle outnumbered people in Texas 9-to-1.
The longest tandem or "bicycle built for two" ever made was actually for thirty-five. It is almost 67 feet long and weighs about as much as a Volkswagen.
Half of all the parts of a typical bicycle are in the chain.
Although most computer programmers are men, the very first programmer was a woman, Lady Augusta Ada Lovelace. Her mechanical computer, called an "analytical machine" was created by Charles Babbage and used punch cards for input. The year was 1852. One out of every 144 people in America has the last name of Smith. One out of every 21 people in the world is an American European men used to be vain about their legs - to the point where they knew which leg was the best looking. These men would place their "best foot forward." In the typical home, there are eight clocks. How many do you have? Why tombstones? The original idea was that the weight pressing down on the body would not allow the ghost to float away. We blink one-half billion times in a lifetime. The owners of Cracker Jack have given away fifteen billion prizes! In the early 1800s, marijuana was Kentucky's number one crop. It was legal then. People did not smoke it. Marijuana was used for its fiber, called hemp, which was used in ships' sails, rope, twine, paper and canvas.
During WW II, farmers were paid to grow marijuana because good rope could be
made from it. The rope made from marijuana, called hemp in this case, is
stronger and more rot-resistant than all other natural fibers.
For the first 19 years Crayola Crayons were produced, they came in only one color - black. The world's first Ferris wheel was built in Chicago for the Colombian Exposition in 1893. Modern Ferris wheels are just little-bitty things compared to that one. It was taller than 50 men standing on each other's shoulders (as tall as a 10-story building) and each "chair" was a coach which could hold 40 people. Between May 1 and November 1, 27 million people were treated to wonderful displays of modern science at the exposition such as brilliant electric night lighting by George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence was very large, resulting in the modern term "put your John Hancock" which means to sign something. His signature on other documents was rather large too, but he had a particular reason for writing big on the Declaration. Signing the Declaration was an act of considerable bravery, because it would be seen by the King of England as high treason. He wanted King George III, who was farsighted, to be able to see his signature clearly. Until 1958 you could mail a first-class letter for three cents. Elephants have only 4 functional teeth. They are each 12 inches long and can be replaced 6 times. What is the most common term of endearment? Honey. From ancient times, honey has been associated with love. Cupid dipped his arrows in it. Beans are one of man’s earliest cultivated crops. Most varieties originated in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Faster than a speeding bullet…one small bat can catch nearly 1,200 tiny insects an hour. Horseradish, the traditional accompaniment for prime rib, has been around a long time…at least since the Exodus. It’s one of the five bitter herbs eaten at Passover and was used by the early Greeks as a rub for back pain and rheumatism. The British discovered its many uses in the 1600s. It came to the U.S. about 1806, and today is grown in the Tulelake region of California. Who was the “Jack” in Monterey Jack Cheese? Before lettuce was a major Monterey/Salinas crop the area had a booming dairy industry built up by immigrant farmers from Spain, Switzerland and the Azores. Each family made a similar soft, white cheese from surplus milk called El Queso del Pais, or country cheese. In 1882 an entrepreneur sent a sample of this cheese to market, but the San Francisco merchants couldn’t pronounce “El Queso del Pais,” so they called it “Jack’s Monterey Cheese” after David Jacks. Where does the sky end and space begin? At 50 miles. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the orders that made Mother's Day a national holiday. We celebrate it on the 3rd. Sunday of May. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adult we have only 206 in our bodies. The reason? Some bones fuse together later. In 1994 alone at least 79 sets of quadruplets were born in the United States. That's 4 siblings born at the same time. There are approximately 15-19 sets of quints born per year in the US. That's 5 born at the same time. The largest number of children born to one woman is recorded at 69.
From 1725-1765 a Russian peasant woman gave birth to 16 sets of twins, 7 sets
of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets
Americans eat about 10 pounds of chocolate a year each.
The Swiss eat 22 pounds per year.
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