Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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* It was New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd who made the following sage observation: “The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.” * A law in Memphis, Tennessee, states that it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless a man walks in front of it to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians. * Martha Stewart got her start in business by catering from her home. * It takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of the maple syrup you put on your pancakes. * The Tom Thumb locomotive and Jel...
* It was Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, who made the following sage observation: “There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.” * If you received all of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” you’d have 364 presents. * The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is an apt time to consider the word “crapulous,” which means “sick f...
* It was way back in the 19th century that American author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau made the following sage observation: “Men have become the tools of their tools.” * If you were asked to name the U.S. state that is geographically closest to the continent of Africa, you might be tempted to say Florida. You’d be wrong, though; the closest state is actually Maine. * In 1938, Time magazine featured Adolph Hitler on the cover as its Man of the Year. * If you’re like most parents, at some point you’ve been shocked by how quickly your kids...
* It was 20th-century American singer and songwriter Bobbie Gentry who made the following sage observation: “Euphemism is a euphemism for lying.” * In a match between a 200-pound mountain lion and a 20-pound porcupine, the lion is likely to be the loser — and probably will die if it tried to take a bite of the desired prey. * The next time you’re annoyed by a bad case of the hiccups, consider poor Charles Osborne. In 1922, when he was 28 years old, Mr. Osborne got the hiccups. For the next 68 years, he continued to hiccup, finally stoppin...
* It was civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. who made the following sage observation: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” * Everyone knows that a sophomore is someone in his or her second year of high school or college. Most people don’t realize, though, that the word is derived from the Greek words “sophos,” which means “wise,” and “moros,” which means “stupid.” * Have you ever tried to hum while holding your nose? It can’t be done. * The creator of the ubiquitous smiley face...
* It was early 20th-century Irish author Robert Wilson Lynd who made the following sage observation: “The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.” * If you’re concerned about the rising cost of groceries, be grateful that you’re not a starfish parent. A young starfish eats 10 times its own weight in food every day. * The first car to offer seat belts — the Nash Rambler — rolled off the assembly line in 1950. * You might be surprised to learn that the British are...
* It was 17th-century French author Francois de La Rochefoucauld who made the following sage observation: “Some people with great virtues are disagreeable, while others with great vices are delightful.” * If you wanted to dig to the center of the earth, you’d have to go down about 4,000 miles. * If you’re a fan of fishing, here’s a cautionary tale regarding the weather: A 48-year-old Colombian man named Felipe Ortiz (for reasons unknown) decided to go out fishing in a raging storm. He cast his line into a strong wind, but the line blew back...
* It was noted American science fiction author Philip K. Dick who made the following sage observation: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” * You might be surprised to learn that when Hernan Cortes reached the New World in the 1600s, he found the Aztecs drinking hot chocolate at their banquets. * The World Health Organization does not include cockroaches on its list of insects hazardous to human health. * Are you afraid of rattlesnakes? Those are certainly dangerous creatures, but keep in mind that the venom...
* 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.” * Statistics show that for every 71,000 skydiving jumps made, there is only one fatality. That might not seem surprising until you put it in context: You have a one in 20,000 chance of dying from a regular fall right here on solid ground. * A.A. Milne, the British author best known for his children’s books about Winnie the Pooh, had a teacher and mentor you might not expect:...
* It was 19th-century English naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin who made the following sage observation: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” * In Nazi Germany it was illegal to name a horse Adolph. * If you grew up with the Girl Scouts decades ago (as I did), you might be surprised to learn about a new badge they’re offering: cybersecurity. Yep, that’s right. The national organization worked with a security company to come up with a curriculum, and now...
* It was Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, who made the following sage observation: “There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.” * Greyhounds aren’t just fast; they also have better vision than any other breed of dog. * The venerable diner saw its peak as a place for a casual meal in the late 1940s, when there were around 7,000 of them acros...
* It was Scott Adams, best known as the creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, who made the following observation: “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll buy a funny hat. Talk to a hungry man about fish, and you’re a consultant.” * According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word that has the largest number of different meanings is “set”; it takes 26 pages to detail them all. * As fall approaches, here’s some good news: Except for the queens, all wasps die in the autumn. * There are those who feel...
* It was American author, journalist and psychoanalysis researcher Judith Viorst who made the following sage observation: “Infatuation is when you think that he’s as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Connors. Love is when you realize he’s as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford — but you’ll take him anyway.” * Records show that during the last seven...
* It was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who made the following sage observation: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” * There are lots of sports fans out there, and a lot of sports to enjoy: football, basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey ... olive oil wrestling? OK, maybe there aren’t a lot of oiled wrestling events here in America, but in Turkey it’s the national sport. Kirkpinar, as it’s known there, has been popular since the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish town of Edirne has been hos...
* It was 18th-century French writer Sebastien Nicolas de Chamfort who made the following sage observation: “Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.” * You might be surprised to learn that famed British author Aldous Huxley, best-known for his dystopian novel “Brave New World,” was a consultant on Disney’s 1951 animated film version of “Alice in Wonderland.” * If you bring to mind an image of John Lennon, more likely than not you’ll see him in your mind’s eye wearing a pair of round spe...
* It was poet, philosopher and satirist Horace, who lived in the first century B.C., who made the following sage observation: “He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.” * Legislators in Vermont once found it necessary to outlaw whistling while underwater. * If someone were to ask you to name the sunniest spot on Earth, you might be tempted to answer “the Sahara Desert” or some other such exotic place. You would be wrong, though; that distinction belongs to a town right here in...
* It was French playwright Albert Guinon who made the following sage observation: “There are people who, instead of listening to what is being said to them, are already listening to what they are going to say themselves.” * You may not be surprised to learn that, according to a poll conducted by The Associated Press, Americans hate math twice as much as any other subject. * A study published in 2008 showed that the price of a pain medication had an effect on its efficacy. In the study people were given placebo pills, some at the regular pri...
* You probably won’t be surprised to learn that it was Albert Einstein who made the following sage observation: “A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” * Ever wonder why blue jeans are blue? When they were first designed by Levi Strauss, the people most likely to wear them were those who did a great deal of manual labor. Strauss rightly assumed the work was likely to be dirty, so he dyed his new trousers indigo to help hide stains. * Statistics on sporting events show that 17 of the 20 sporting events with the most atten...
* It was American astronomer, astrophysicist and author Carl Sagan who made the following sage observation: “The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” * It’s not clear why lawmakers in the state of Alabama once thought it necessary to pass a law forbidding the operation of a vehicle while wearing a blindfold. * Though coffee has been around for about 700 y...
* It was pop art icon Andy Warhol who made the following sage observation: “It’s the movies that have really been running things in America since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look when you feel about it.” * Those who study such things say that by the year 2020, more data will be created in a single hour than had been created in the entire world over the 30,000 years leading up to the 21st century. * A woman in Tennessee was once arrested for biking while intox...
* It was popular British romance author Jilly Cooper who made the following observation: “The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness, can be trained to do most things.” * If you’re like the average human, you blink about 17,000 times every day. * Filmmaker George Lucas is arguably best known for his “Star Wars” franchise, but he also directed “American Graffiti.” During the making of that earlier film he designated each reel of film with an R before the reel’s number, and each instance of dialog was prefixed with a D. At on...
* It was noted 20th-century American novelist, short story writer and journalist Ernest Hemingway who made the following sage observation: “When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead.” * You might be surprised to learn that the largest irrigated crop in the United States isn’t soybeans, wheat or even corn; it’s grass — mostly in lawns, parks and golf courses. * The next time you see a shampoo commercial and note how creamy and frothy the lather seems to be, keep this in mind: The model in the advertisement probably has either...
* It was Edna St. Vincent Millay, a playwright and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, who made the following observation: “A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public with his pants down.” * I don’t know who studies such things, but those who do say that over the course of a lifetime, you’ll probably spend about three years in the restroom. * Despite numerous arrests and trials, famed 19th-century outlaw Frank James was never convicted of anything and never went to prison. He died in 1915, at the age of 72, of...
* It was Swedish poet Vilhelm Ekelund who made the following sage observation: “To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry.” * Bullies, take note: Director Wes Craven reportedly named the character Freddy Krueger, from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” horror films, after a kid who had bullied him in school. * Though coffee has been around for about 700 years, instant coffee was invented just over 100 years ago, in 1906. By George Washington. Of course, it wasn’t that George Washington. The man who made coffee more convenient — and, many would...
* The unknown soul who made the following sage observation must have been a keen observer of events: “A politician can appear to have his nose to the grindstone while straddling a fence and keeping both ears to the ground.” * Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel, famed inventor of dynamite and originator of the Nobel Prizes, could speak five languages fluently by the time he was 17 years old. * Most languages change dramatically over time. If we in modern America were to try to read, say, “Beowulf” (which was written in Old English...
