Happy Friday, Everyone!
This is a very special Freestyle Friday blog post. In continuation with Last Saturday’s post about trivial tidbits, here are twenty-two more for you. Check these out:
· Thomas Edison one tried to invent a helicopter engine that ran on gunpowder. He was forced to end the experiments… after blowing up his lab.
· It is completely impossible for a person to recite the letters of the alphabet without moving their lips or tongue; all letters sound the same.
· In 1796, the state of Franklin changed its name to Tennessee. In 1861, the state of Kanawha changed its name to West Virginia.
· Kids laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
· Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime… and it was purchased by his brother, Theo.
· The first American novel to ever to sell one million copies was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was published in 1852.
· Natural gas has no odor, but it can still be smelled, since scent is artificially added to it as a means of detecting leaks.
· Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson,” and Captain Kirk never said “Beam me up, Scotty.”
· In 1938, the two creators of Superman sold all the right to the character and the concept for $130.
· The first-ever video on MTV was The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” The first by an African-American artist: Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”
· In the Gilligan’s Island series, the skipper’s name is Jonas Grumby, and the professor’s name is Roy Hinkley. Their names were used only once—in the pilot.
· The green rooster on the front of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes is actually named Cornelius. He made his debut in 1957, and is still on boxes today.
· The top hat was so controversial that, when its inventor first wore it out in public in 1797, he was arrested for disturbing the peace.
· “The whole nine yards” refers to the string of bullets used with airplane-mounted guns during World War I, which were 27 feet (nine yards) long.
· Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China is too narrow to be seen from space. One can, however, see the Hoover Dam and the Giza Pyramids.
· It snows more in the Grand Canyon than it does in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The largest natural snowflake ever recorded was fifteen inches wide.
· The only real people to be Pez heads were Paul Revere, Daniel Boone, and Betsy Ross, issued in the 1970s, and the Orange County Choppers, in 2006.
· The word “oink” for the sound of a pig is “ood” in Thai, “snork” in Afrikaans, “chro” in Czech, “buu” in Japanese, and “hulu” in Mandarin.
· The fastest moving muscle in the human body is the one that opens and closes the eyelid… “As fast as the blink of an eye!”
· The first postage stamp, called the “One Penny Black,” was issued in 1840 and featured a portrait of the young Queen Victoria.
· Abandoned titles for The Great Gatsby included “Trimalchio in West Egg,” “Under the Red, White, and Blue,” and “The High-Bouncing Lover.”
· The longest airport runway in the world (3.4 miles) is at Bamda Airport in Tibet. It is also the highest (altitude of 2.7 miles).
The reason why I boldfaced Item #11 is because I already knew that one, particularly because of watching Gilligan’s Island with my fam and friends.
I also want to thank my fellow Southern Cali native Nikki Douglas for this information. Perhaps one day, I will throw these tidbits of information in one of my lessons and quiz my future kindergarten class, just to see if they were really paying attention to me… hahaha!
Well, I’ll holla at y’all tomorrow. Take care.
Hugs & Kisses,
Natasha
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