In the 1500s, houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small
animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the
olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed
it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Lego’s Danish founder Ole Kirk Christiansen named the famous bricks in 1934 by fusing two Danish words, “leg” and “godt” meaning “play well.”
Children across the world spend 5 billion hours every year playing with Lego bricks, available in 90 different colors, according to the company’s Web site.
Soda vending machines have been responsible for at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries since 1978.
These tragic events have resulted from consumers rocking or tilting the machines in an attempt to obtain free soda or money. In response, vending machine manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to provide warning labels for the 1.7 million vending machines in the marketplace.
A grand piano has about 20 tons of force trying to sandwich it in half.
Inside a piano, there are roughly 230 wires of varying sizes and tension. When you press a piano key, 1-3 wires are struck by a hammer, causing it to vibrate at a unique frequency. Each of these wires is under 200 pounds of tension or more. These wires are held tight by a large cast iron frame (peek inside a grand piano sometime) which prevents the piano from caving in on itself!
Passengers in the United States are sitting on more than nine trillion frequent-flier miles, 50 percent more than just 5 years ago, according to WebFlyer.com.
That is enough for 36 million free tickets, at the basic rate of 25,000 miles - or enough to give almost everyone who flew out of Kennedy International Airport last year a free ticket.
A.M. stands for Ante Meridiem which means "before noon", while P.M. stands for Post Meridiem, or "after noon".
According to Daniel Boorstin in his book "The Discoverers," an assistant to the Roman consul was assigned to notice when the sun crossed the meridian, and to announce it in the Forum, since lawyers had to appear in the courts before noon.
In the late 1830's and 1840's, the abbreviation fad began with many of the abbreviated expressions being exaggerated misspellings. One predecessor of OK was OW, "oll wright," and there was also KY, "know yuse," KG, "know go," and NS, "nuff said."
According to New York Magazine, the land that makes up Central Park in New York is worth $529 billion! The land was originally purchased by New York City around 1853 for $5 million.
All that space allowed NYC to spread out the "Gates" art exhibit across 23 miles in February 2006, according to an old FactMe! fact.
Starbucks Corp. spends more on health insurance for its employees than on coffee beans.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Starbucks expects to spend about $200 million this year for health care for its 80,000 U.S. employees — more than the total amount it spends on green coffee from Africa, Indonesia and other countries.
The Rubik's World Championship includes speed-solving for the standard (3x3) Rubik's cube, but also includes more unusual events like solving the cube one-handed, with feet, or blindfolded.
Rubik's cube was introduced to the world 25 years ago.
Historically, "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing.
However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means "not flammable" or "noncombustible." This -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only "flammable" to give warnings.
Gauchos are South American cattle herders, living on the pampas, the plain that extends north from Patagonia bounded on the west by the Andes.
They have become romantic figures just like "cowboys". Like the North American cowboy, gauchos are generally reputed to be strong, silent types, but arrogant, and capable of violence when provoked.
A German man endured scorching temperatures of 230 Fahrenheit (110 Celsius) for almost five minutes to win the nation's first sauna endurance competition.
The German sauna competition uses the same rules: participants sit in
110-degree heat, with water poured on the stove every 30 seconds to
create more steam. Kramp's time falls short of the almost 12 minutes set by Finn Leo Pusa to win last year's international championship in Heinola, Finland.
Recently the World Wife Carrying Championships took place in Sonkajarvi, Finland.
This brings up the twin hazards of wife carrying: (1) Run too hard and you risk throwing out your back and (2) Finish too slowly and you risk implying your wife is fat.
Here are some of the The Top 10 Things Overheard at the World Wife Carrying Championship:
7. "No, you can't have second helpings."
2. "No spurs! No spurs!" See the rest
Barnes and Noble will sell about 50,000 copies in the first 24 hours -- more than 99% of books sell in their lifetime. The book's publisher, Scholastic, has announced a first printing of 10.8 million copies -- 7 times the first run of Bill Clinton's "My Life".
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Source: Santhe Nagaraj
