Well, I've said all I'm going to about birthdays. You know who we Birthday People are, so I'm digging again into my Bag O' Facts for one last batch of trivia before the year ends. Read on, marvel, and enjoy!
Kool-Aid was invented in 1927 in Hastings, NE by Edwin Perkins. There's a museum, too.
The Twinkie is 80 years old this year.
Anne, Lady Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, invented the analytical engine, the predecessor of the computer. She is considered the first computer programmer.
Anne Bradstreet (1650) was the 1st published American woman writer. The book was The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.
John William Polidori, Lord Byron’s personal physician, was the author of The Vampyre in 1816, the novel which became the progenitor of the vampire romance. It was also the first vampire story written in English.
Antarctica is the only continent without reptiles or snakes.
Henry II of France (1519-1559) originated the method of registering a patent.
Hawaii is the only US state growing coffee.
Lord Byron’s dog, Boatswain, has a larger grave memorial than his master. In the 1950’s, English schoolchildren raised money to provide the poet with a suitable monument.
The only active diamond mine in the United States is in Arkansas.
The only country in the world having a Bill of Rights for Cows is India.
Smallpox only exists as samples in laboratories in Atlanta and Moscow. When scientists destroy the samples the smallpox virus will become the first life form intentionally eliminated from the earth.
The pecan tree is the only naturally growing nut tree in North American. It is native to the Texas, Mississippi and Mexico River Valleys.
The Chihuahua is the only dog breed indigenous to the New World.
There is a highway in South Carolina paved with uncut amethysts.
During pregnancy, the average woman's uterus expands up to five hundred times its normal size.
On average women say 7,000 words per day. Men manage just over 2000.
The average US male will spend 2,965 hours shaving during his lifetime. If the average man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his lifetime.
Actor Boris Karloff’s great-aunt was Anna Leonowens, the English tutor whose story was told in Anna and the King of Siam and the musical The King and I.
Looking forward to the New Year. Bring it on! (The pictures don't mean anything; just thought you'd like to see them.)
Well, Toni, I knew very few of your obscure facts. You are still way ahead of me in the trivia department. Happy Birthday again!
Happy Birthday to Linda, too!
Happy Birthday, I hope your latest dreams come true!
Coffee is only grown in one state, I never woulda thought that!
Linda, Happy Birthday to you!!
Very interesting trivia. What's the name of the highway in South Carolina that paved with uncut amethysts? I like to see that.
I knew almost none of this. Fascinating! Loved it, Toni. Thanks.
Very amusing. My husband said I knew it when I told him about this one: On average women say 7,000 words per day. Men manage just over 2000.
Mona, I think hubby was just teasing you but it makes sense. Men (those hunters) have to be silent to sneak up on their prey; women (the organizers, gathers, nurterers) need to be able to communicate their ideas. That's why one is straightforward and goal-oriented and the other is a multitasker. It's in the ol' genes!
Happy Birthday, Toni. Loved reading all these facts. Interesting.
Toni,
Such fun and interesting facts. I knew the one about men talking less than women, but all the others were news to me.