Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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* It was American journalist, author and humorist Don Marquis who made the following sage observation: "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." * The first recorded newspaper that published on a daily basis was in Rome -- in 59 B.C. * A giant carnivorous plant has been discovered on a remote mountaintop in the Philippines. The second largest pitcher plant on record, nepenthes attenboroughii secretes a nectar that lures insects, frogs and even rats into its trap, where enzymes and acids break down the animal and digest it. *...
* It was American political scientist, economist, psychologist and professor Herbert Simon who made the following sage observation: "What information consumes is rather obvious: It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." * Those who study such things claim that the act of licking a stamp burns one-tenth of a calorie. * The shortest song in the world is "You Suffe...
* It was American cartoonist, humorist and journalist Kin Hubbard who made the following sage observation: "There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn't tell you about it?" * Next time you're in Iowa, you might want to stop by the rural town of Riverside, which touts itself as the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. Yep, the future birthplace. It seems that "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry asserted that the character of James Tiberius Kirk was born in Iowa, but he didn't specify exactly where. In 19...
* It was American humorist Evan Esar who came up the following definition: "Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions." * The Emperor Charlemagne, who conquered much of Western and Central Europe during the first century, had an unusual relationship with his daughters. He refused to allow them to get married, but he evidently had no objections to their forming, shall we say, less formal relationships. He doted on his illegitimate grandchildren and even gave money and gifts...
* It was famed cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead who made the following sage observation: "One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don't come home at night." * It's been estimated that a million pigeons live in New York City. * When pop star Christina Aguilera is on tour, she insists on having a police escort. She hates to be stuck in traffic. * Next time you're heading to Illinois, you can stop off in Metropolis and visit the self-declared birthplace of Superman. In honor of their hometown...
* It was Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri who made the following sage observation: "Beware of the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world." * Romans thought that roses could prevent drunkenness. * The neon sign was invented in France in 1910, but the first one didn't come to the United States until 1923. That was the year a car dealership in Los Angeles put up two brightly lit "Packard" signs. The novelties literally stopped traffic in the streets. * Those who study such...
* It was Samuel West, the founder and curator of Sweden's Museum of Failure (which showcases disasters in design and innovation), who made the following sage observation: "Each failure is uniquely spectacular, while success is nauseatingly repetitive." * Those who study such things say that the earth is more flattened at the South Pole than the North Pole. The weight of all that ice is to blame. * Clams can live for more than 200 years. * You know what a mortgage is, but do you know how the word came to the English language? The "mort" should...
* It was Nobel Prize-winning French poet, journalist and novelist Anatole France who gave the following sage advice: "Never lend books -- nobody ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me." * One-quarter of the city of Los Angeles is taken up by automobiles. * Ancient Egyptian priests were bald. And not just on their heads -- they would pluck every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes. * In many parts of Spain, Dec. 28 is traditionally observed as the Feast of the Holy In...
* It was 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes who made the following sage observation: "Curiosity is the lust of the mind." * At Christmastime in Greece, people traditionally give small gifts to orphanages and hospitals rather than to each other. * A traditional Russian Christmas celebration would include spreading hay on a home's floors and tables and clucking loudly. Evidently, this was thought to encourage horse feed to grow and chickens to lay eggs in the coming year. * The antlers of a bull moose can spread up to 6 feet across...
It was Polish chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower who made the following sage observation: "Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake." * Worldwide, herbivores kill more people than carnivores. * Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all were invented by women. * Japanese scientists have discovered that the human body emits a very slight, yet perceptible, glow. After using a special camera to study a sample of men in their 20s, they found that intensity of the glow varies, with the lowest...
* It was noted 20th-century American humorist and journalist Don Marquis who made the following sage observation: "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." * Kangaroos can reach speeds of up to 44 mph, but they can't take a single step backward. * As the holiday shopping season gets well under way, here's an interesting tidbit to keep in mind: According to the annual Coinstar Holiday Survey, 31% of Americans don't remember what gifts they received last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, more women remember those details than men...
* It was 19th-century German poet Johann Peter Eckermann who made the following sage observation: "Invention requires an excited mind; execution, a calm one." * Those who study such things say that if you want to know if someone is likely to keep your secrets, you should look at their birth order in the family. First-born children tend to be better at keeping secrets than kids born later. * According to biologists, young giraffes have been known to grow up to half an inch per hour. * You might be surprised to learn that in addition to being the...
* It was novelist, poet and playwright Gertrude Stein who made the following sage observation: "Everybody knows if you are too careful, you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something." * If you're like the average American, you will eat about 150 bananas this year -- 26 pounds' worth. * A researcher in Britain calculated that local farmland contains more than 2 million spiders per acre. Must be small ones, I'd say. * Up until the 1500s, the accepted way of dealing with a patient who was hemorrhaging was to...
* It was infamous French statesman and military leader Napoleon Bonaparte who made the following sage observation: "In politics, absurdity is not a handicap." * In 2006, an Illinois police officer was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. This probably would not be noteworthy, except that it was the same police officer who received an award for making the most DUI arrests in his county. * A single pound of sequoia seeds contains roughly 90,000 individual seeds. * You might be surprised to learn that sloths can hold their breath...
* It was influential American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman who made the following sage observation: "It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong." * Those who study such things say that an eagle's feathers weigh twice as much as its bones. * You've probably read about the unprecedented casualties suffered on all sides in World War I. You probably didn't know, though, that 60,000 of those casualties were due to avalanches caused by gunfire in the...
* It was Marquette University basketball coach and beloved national basketball commentator Al McGuire who made the following sage observation: "The world is run by C students." * There were no armadillos in Texas until the 1840s. * Many people think that adding cream to coffee makes it colder, but that's only partially correct. As it turns out, after cooling the coffee a little bit, the cream forms a layer of fat molecules across the surface, insulating the coffee and keeping it warmer longer. * Those who study such things say that only about...
* It was Austrian philosophical author Robert Musil who made the following sage observation: "It's not the genius who is 100 years ahead of his time but average man who is 100 years behind it." * Here's a sign of our increasingly cluttered lives: When the National Association of Professional Organizers was formed in 1985, it had five members. Today there are more than 3,500 registered organizers with the group. * Despite many people's assumptions, the word "bayou" doesn't come from French; it's from the Choctaw word "bayuk." * Those who study s...
* It was multitalented Robert Anton Wilson -- he was, at various times in his life, a novelist, essayist, psychologist, editor, philosopher, playwright and mystic -- who made the following observation: "It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea." * It took between 75,000 and 80,000 workers to build the Panama Canal, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. * When the Barbie doll was first introduced in 1959, it was described in The New York Times as a "crushing...
* It was 19th-century American social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass who made the following sage observation: "Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing the ground." * If you use Listerine to freshen your breath, you might be interested to know that its original formula is 26.9% alcohol by volume -- that comes out to 54-proof gargle. * The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The marine mammal is so large, in fact, that a grown man could swim...
* It was Democratic governor and presidential hopeful Adlai Stevenson who made the following sage observation: "A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular." * In proportion to its size, the strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. * Beloved children's author Dr. Seuss had a hobby that few people were aware of: He collected hats. * If you're planning a trip to Kentucky anytime soon, you'd better keep a close rein on your interactions with strangers. It seems that flirting there is illegal and could get you 30 days in...
* It was infamous French statesman and military leader Napoleon Bonaparte who made the following sage observation: "In politics, absurdity is not a handicap." * It may be hard to believe, but there is an official competition to see who can sit in a sauna for the longest period of time. The World Sauna Championships have taken place in Heinola, Finland, annually since 1999. The starting temperature is 110 F, and a liter of water is poured on the stove every 30 seconds. The winner is the last person who is able to leave the sauna without...
* It was British politician John Sweeney who made the following sage observation: "How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners and instant cameras teach patience to its young?" * Golfers beware: Don't chew on the tees. One golfer who was in the habit of gnawing while he played overdosed on pesticides after playing 36 holes in one day. * The longest word in the English language that can be typed using only one hand is "stewardesses." * It's been reported that the last words of 19-century...
* It was Canadian journalist, editor and poet Mark Abley who made the following sage observation: "Modern English is the Walmart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand." * On any given day, Google conducts approximately 63,000 searches per second. * The next time you get a chance, you might want to check the pressure of your car's tires; if they're not inflated to the correct pressure, you're contributing to the $9 million in fuel that is wasted due to improper...
* It was American poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay -- the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, by the way -- who made the following sage observation: "A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public with his pants down." * It's often been said that necessity is the mother of invention -- and for good reason. Here's an example: The idea for the original pull-top can originated when the inventor was at a picnic; he had forgotten to bring a can opener, so he had to use a car bumper. * If you live in Georgia, you...
STRANGE BUT TRUE by Samantha Weaver * It was Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century American author John Steinbeck -- considered by many to be "a giant of American letters" -- who made the following sage observation: "We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it." * It seems no one can adequately explain why women tend to strike matches away from themselves while men tend to strike them toward themselves. * It may be hard to believe, but there is an official competition to see who can sit in a sauna the longest. The World...