To tell the
difference between regular and killer bees:
Look at the honeycomb. If 10 cells are: More than 5.2 cm across, the bees are
normal European bees. Less that 4.9 cm across, the bees are killer African bees.
Between 4.9 and 5.2 cm across, who knows? Don't mess with them.
The Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World
With the exception of the pyramids, all of the wonders have since been
destroyed
Pyramids at Giza esp. Khufu's (Egypt)
Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Iraq)
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Turkey)
Statue of Zeus at Olympia (Greece)
Mausoleum at Halicanassus (Turkey)
Colossus of Rhodes (Greece)
Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt)
Ann Landers real name
is
Esther "Eppie" Pauline Friedman Lederer
Jim Carrey, Patrick
Stewart, and I
all have the same Myers-Briggs personality type (ENTJ)
Having a baby shower?
Send a note to the White House Greetings Office, Washington, DC 20500 Specify
the baby's name and if it is to be male or female. The White House will send a
personalized note of congratulations!
Statistically
speaking,
If you take a deep breath, there is a better than 99% chance that you will
inhale a molecule that was exhaled in dying Caesar's last breath. If Socrates's
fatal cup of hemlock was mostly water, then the next glass of water you drink
will likely contain one of those same molecules. In classes of 25 students,
there is a better than 50% chance that at least two students will share the same
birthday.
Source: Elementary Statistics New York: Addison Wesley, 1998
Nabisco
stands for National Biscuit Company
Lie Detectors
establish guilt with 75% to 95% accuracy - so why are they not admissible in
court? Because even with such a high accuracy rate, the rate of false
positives can be as high as 50%, so half of innocent suspects incorrectly
appear guilty.
Source: Elementary Statistics New York: Addison Wesley, 1998
The Speaker of the
House
needn't be a member of the House of Representatives. According to the
Constitution, the House has the power to choose a speaker, but the Constitution
doesn't specify procedure, and House rules do not mandate that the speaker be a
member of the House. Thus, in theory, although it has never happened before, anyone
could be Speaker of the House.
En français,
roller coaster is montagne russe (literally, Russian mountain) and Jaws
the movie is called dent de la mer (teeth of the sea).
King George III
wrote in his diary "nothing of importance happened on this date."
The date? July 4, 1776.
Rice thrown at
weddings
is safe for birds. Many birds eat agricultural rice, and birdseed is much
like dried rice. The proposition that rice swells up in a birds stomach and
kills them is a science myth. Source: "Science Myths." Discover
Magazine. November 1999.
A.O.M.P.S. written on tombstones
may be the abbreviation of the Latin phrase Cristus Antiquus
Ordo Mysticusque Prioratus Sionus Defendit. This translates to "Christ defends
the Ancient Mystic Order of the Priory of Zion." Or, it might also stand for
Cristus Ab Omni Malo Populum Suam Defendit. This is often shortened to Cristus
A.O.M.P.S. Defendit and means "May Christ protect his people from all evil."
Source: Encarta.com