The word 'hurricane' is derived from the Carib word 'Hurican,' which is the god of evil (It should be noted that the Carib god 'Hurican' was derived from the Mayan god 'Hurakan', one of their creator gods, who blew his breath across the Chaotic water and brought forth dry land and later destroyed the men of wood with a great storm and flood
Green colored light is the least used color of light in the process of photosynthesis- it is reflected back into our eyes. That is why plants are, for the most part, green
The inventors of bubble wrap, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes, were originally trying to make plastic wallpaper
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| Many people find "popping the bubbles" irresistible" |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife died when a dropped match ignited her enormous hoop skirt
Orang means “man” in Malay and hutan means forest, so orangutan means “man of the forest”
The Great Depression was bad for marriages and divorces. Couples could neither afford to become wed, nor to split up. Not surprisingly, both numbers spiked highly following World War II. The Economic Crisis that began in 2008 has similarly brought the numbers of marriages and divorces to a 30-year low
The scientific name for the nape of your neck is “niddick”
When 7-Up was invented, it was originally called “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”
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| This advertisement, circa 1945, recommends 7-Up, today known as a soft drink, as a remedy for hangovers, a stomach-settling aide, a "slenderizing" drink, and alerts shoppers that it can be used at home and not just in the hospital! |
Humphrey Bogart joined the US Navy after being kicked out of Phillips Academy Boarding School. He was wounded during the shelling of the Leviathan, resulting in partial facial paralysis and his lisp
Horses cannot breathe through their mouth. If their nostrils become obstructed, they could suffocate
When Cosmopolitan started in 1886, it was a marketed as a family magazine. Popular issues around the turn-of-the-century included stories by Henry James and Theodore Roosevelt, and covered topics like climbing Mount Vesuvius and the life of Mozart. The magazine now caters most of its pages to fashion, make-up application and products, interviews with movie and television celebrities, and sex and life advice for women
In 1956, East Germany decided to honor the death of native composer Robert Schumann by featuring him on a stamp. The design included a commemorative portrait of the artist against the backdrop of one of his musical scores. Unfortunately, the musical manuscript they used was that of fellow composer Franz Schubert
When Union soldiers cut off supply deliveries to the Confederacy during the American Civil War, the South was not able to get paper from northern paper mills. So, Confederate papers were printed on the back of wallpaper peeled off of parlor walls
Just as some people talk in their sleep, sign language speakers have been known to sign in their sleep
Though it’s not as well-known as the Grand Canyon, Hell’s Canyon is the deepest river gorge in the U.S. at nearly 8,000 feet below the peaks of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains range to the east. Most of the area is inaccessible by road
Lead guitarist for Queen, Brian May, dropped out of a physics PhD at Imperial College London to follow the path to rock stardom. He finally completed his thesis in 2007
Those few folks who have survived a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge report that it takes about four seconds to hit the water, some of whom found that enough time to re-think and regret the decision to attempt suicide
The Hawaiian alphabet only has twelve letters: A, E, I, O, U, H, K, L, M, N, P and W
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket
In a 1981 TV movie, the Harlem Globetrotters ended up on Gilligan’s Island and played basketball against a team of robots
NEWS FEED:
Mattel revealed that its best-selling fashion doll in the last year (2010), for the age-6-and-up market, has been the teen werewolf "Monster High" model, Clawdeen Wolf, who comes with heavy makeup, a short skirt, and high boots, and who supposedly spends her time "waxing, plucking, and shaving." (Says Clawdeen, in promotional materials, "My hair is worthy of a shampoo commercial, and that's just what grows on my legs.") Though Mattel claims the doll celebrates girls' imperfections, a counselor told Fox News she was appalled that the company tells young girls that they "need to sculpt, tweeze, wax, and . . . change their bodies" to attract men
Tokyo's Kajimoto Laboratory has created a tongue-kissing machine to enable lovers to suck face over the
Internet, according to a May CNN report. At separate locations, the pair place special straws in their mouths and mimic a deep kiss, which is recorded and transmitted to each other's straws. Researcher Nobuhiro Takahashi sees profit in "celebrity" tongue-kissing applications, but said more work is needed to establish individual taste, breathing, and tongue moistness. (Another team of Japanese researchers, using a harness-type device, reported making similar advances- in Internet "hugging," with sensors that mimic lovers' heartbeats and even their spine's "tingling" and stomach's "butterflies")
The Columbus, Ohio, school board accepted principal Kimberly Jones's resignation in May following revelations by the Columbus Dispatch that she, though earning $90,000 a year, swore on federal forms that she made just $25,000 so that her own two children would qualify for reduced-price school lunches
