Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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* It was French playwright and actor Louis Verneuil who made the following sage observation: "The prime purpose of eloquence is to keep other people from talking." * With only two known to exist, the rarest U.S. postage stamp is an 1868 1-cent Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill, so called because of the shape that was impressed into the stamp. One of the Z-Grills is in the collection of the New York Public Library, and the other was sold in 1998 for $935,000. That's not the end of the story, though; in 2005, the same stamp was traded for a block of...
* It was 19th-century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli who made the following observation: "My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me." * When the movie "Grizzly Adams" was filmed, the grizzly bear that played the title role was paid $9,000 a day, plus an extra $15,000 for performing its own stunts. I wonder if it went out on a shopping spree after payday? * Medical experts say that coconut water has the same pH and electrolyte balance as human blood. In fact, during World War II, doctors who were running low on...
* It was noted 20th-century American poet Carl Sandberg who made the following sage observation: "Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." * Those who study such things have determined that one out of every four alcoholic drinks consumed in the world has vodka in it. * You weigh more at the North Pole than you do at the equator. * In response to increased airport security, a company in Japan has created the "Frequent...
* It was Robert Wright, journalist, scholar and author of best-selling books about science, who made the following sage observation: "Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than virtue." * Famously flamboyant country singer and songwriter Dolly Parton once entered a Dolly Parton look-alike contest ... and lost. * The small Asian country of Bhutan, nestled in the mountains between China and India, had no access to TV until 1999. * You've doubtless heard of...
It was famed Irish author George Bernard Shaw who made the following sage observation: "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." * Although we tend to think of the bikini as a modern fashion innovation, two-piece bathing suits can be seen in murals in the ancient city of Pompeii. * If you're a fan of the "Star Trek" franchise, you might want to plan a trip to the capital of Sweden. It was in Stockholm last year that the world's first Klingon tourist center opened. * There seems to be quite a rivalry b...
* It was American pastor, politician and activist Andrew Young who made the following sage observation: "Nothing is illegal if a hundred businessmen decide to do it." * Tony Curtis, who co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in the famous film "Some Like It Hot," once said that kissing Ms. Monroe was "like kissing Hitler." Makes you wonder how he knew what kissing Hitler was like. * If you're like the average bearded man, your facial hair grows at a rate of about 6 inches every year. * You might be surprised to learn that the highest reward ever...
It was Academy Award-nominated actress and comedian Lily Tomlin who made the following observation: "Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy 2 percent that get all the publicity. But then -- we elected them." * You might be surprised to learn that it requires a whopping 30 tons of ore from a gold mine to produce a single gold ring. * You are almost certainly aware of the fact that the Impressionist painter Claude Monet is famous for his paintings of water lilies. How-...
* It was noted 20th-century American playwright Arthur Miller who made the following sage observation: “Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.” * When creating its cocoon, the silkworm spins a continuous thread more than a thousand yards long, or 12,000 times the length of its own body. To accomplish a comparable feat, a 6-foot-tall man would have to spin a thread that stretched unbroken for 15 miles. * You may be surprised to learn that the onion is actually a lily, botanically speaking. * In 2016, Michigan State Uni...
* “It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” — Carl Sagan * You might be surprised to learn that some fish can hibernate. During the long, dark winters, the Antarctic cod will burrow under the seabed and stay there for days at a time, cutting its metabolism by two-thirds. * Despite the fact that famed magician Harry Houdini exposed a number of mediums and psychics as frauds, Sherlock Holmes novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle persisted in believing that Houdini himse...
* It was Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky who made the following sage observation: “Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.” * You might be surprised to learn that a male lion can mate up to 50 times in one day. * Before the iconic reclining armchair was dubbed “La-Z-Boy,” the names “Sit-N-Snooze,” “Slack Back” and “Comfort Carrier” were considered. * A researcher calculated that across the country of Great Britain, the weight of all the insects that are ea...
* It was industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who was born into a poor Scottish family and emigrated to the United States as a teen, who made the following sage observation: “There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.” * You might be surprised to learn that the United States Department of Commerce has designated approximately 30 houses across the country as authentic haunted houses. * Despite the fact tha...
* It was American actress, screenwriter and notorious sex symbol Mae West who made the following sage observation: “You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough.” * The world’s highest tides are found in the Bay of Fundy, located in Nova Scotia, Canada. There, the difference between high and low tides can be as much as 50 feet. * If you’re a blood donor, you’re part of a significant minority. In the United States, less than 5 percent of the population donates blood every year. * The first sound recording ever made was created i...
* It was one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock — also known as the “Master of Suspense” -– who made the following sage observation: “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” * In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, it is illegal to keep indoor furniture outdoors. * The town of Llanfair in Wales is also known by its Welsh name, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantsiliogogogoch. Roughly translated, this means, “Saint Mary’s Church in a hollow of white hazel,...
* It was 19th-century French novelist Gustave Flaubert who made the following sage observation: “Our ignorance of history makes us libel our own times. People have always been like this.” * Visitors to Chicago might want to keep in mind that in that city, it’s against the law to dine in any establishment that is on fire. * In 1856, a soldier of fortune (who was also a journalist, doctor and lawyer) by the name of William Walker and his hand-picked group of mercenaries took over Nicaragua. Walker appointed himself dictator, thus securing for h...
* It was 20th-century American writer, publisher, artist and philosopher Elbert Hubbard who made the following sage observation: “Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.” * According to historical reports, in 1877 snakes fell from the sky in Memphis, Tennessee. * When the bubonic plague, more commonly known as the Black Death, was at its peak in Europe in the 14th century, a wide variety of remedies was prescribed, including smoking tobacco, bringing spiders into the household, inhaling the stench from a lat...
* It was 20th-century French air force brigadier general and geopolitician -- and bearer of the nickname "father of the French atom bomb" -- Pierre Marie Gallois who made the following sage observation: "If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out of it but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is somehow ennobled and no one dares criticize it." * Fashion historians claim that England's Queen Elizabeth I owned 3,000 of the elaborate dresses popular during her time. * The Great Pyramid of...
* It was Isaac Asimov, professor of biochemistry and beloved Grand Master of science fiction, who made the following sage observation: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” * According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, if you’re like the average American, you drink 22.7 gall...
* It was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who made the following sage observation: “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” * In Washington state it once was illegal to carry a concealed weapon that was more than 6 feet in length. * Dominique Bouhours, a Frenchman who lived in the 17th century, was a priest, an essayist and a grammarian. The love of language may have been closest to his heart, though; it’s been reported that the final words he utter...
* It was Henry Brooks Adams, American historian and descendant of two U.S. presidents, who made the following sage observation: "They know enough who know how to learn." * Spanish explorers named California after a mythical island of Amazon women ruled by a warrior queen named Califa. * Though an electric eel is born with the ability to see, by the time it becomes an adult it is blind. This lack of sight is not a hindrance, though; the fish uses electricity to create an image of its surroundings in much the same way that we use radar. The...
* It was 20th-century American author Margaret Mitchell -- best known, of course, for her Civil War-era novel "Gone With the Wind" -- who made the following sage observation: "Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is." * It seems that the Germans have a word for everything. For instance, "waldeinsamkeit" describes the feeling of being alone in the woods. * In rural Wisconsin in 1921, two third-grade students in a one-room schoolhouse became sweethearts. At the end of the school year,...
* It was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, communist revolutionary and the first leader of the Soviet Union, who made the following sage observation: “One fool can ask more questions in a minute than 12 wise men can answer in an hour.” * Back in 1893, when the zipper was invented, the device was intended to be used for fastening shoes. * When the TV sitcom “The Addams Family” was being cast in the early 1960s, actor John Astin came in to audition for the role of Lurch, the cadaverous butler. He was immediately rejected for the part. As he was leaving...
* In this time of bitter partisan rivalries, it would be well to remember the following sage observation: “Do not trust to the cheering, for those persons would cheer just as much if you and I were going to be hanged.” The man who first made that observation was Lord Protector of England Oliver Cromwell, considered by some to be a hero of liberty, by others to be a regicidal dictator. He died in 1658, probably from septicemia. He was so reviled that, three years later, his body was exhumed so that he could be posthumously executed, his bod...
* It was English journalist, political essayist and novelist George Orwell, probably best known for his works “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Animal Farm,” who made the following sage observation: “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.” * Considering their unsavory reputation, you might be surprised to learn that jackals often help raise their younger siblings, even after...
* It was way back in the 17th century when noted Scottish scholar Patrick Young made the following sage observation: “The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.” * As 2018 winds down, you might want to keep this crime fact in mind: Those who study such things say that New Year’s Day is the No. 1 holiday for car theft. Perhaps they’re making up for Christmas Day, which is typically the holiday with the fewest auto thefts. * I bet you didn’t know there’s a w...
* It was beloved American comedian and film star Groucho Marx who made the following sage observation: “There’s one way to find out if a man is honest — ask him. If he says ‘Yes,’ you know he is a crook.” * You might be surprised to learn that, in addition to his holiday duties, Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children, coopers, sailors, fishermen, merchants, broadcasters, the falsely accused, repentant thieves, brewers, pharmacists, archers, pawnbrokers, Aberdeen, Galway, Russia, Greece, Hellenic Navy, Liverpool, the Italian town of Bar...