Van Nuys News Press » Facts of the week

Facts of the Week 3-12-12

daryl — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:58:36 +0000

Facts of the Week
~ ‘Jay’ used to be slang for ‘foolish person.’ So when a pedestrian ignored street signs, he was referred to as a ‘jaywalker.’
~ Henry Ford was a proponent of hiring the handicapped. In 1919, more than 20 percent of his workforce had some form of disability.
~ Garden earthworms are not indigenous to the U.S. They came over in the mud on the boots and on the roots of the crops the colonists brought over.
~ Oregon is the only state to have a different design on each side of their flag.
~ An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow backwards.
~ The third right arm of a male octopus is his reproductive organ.

daryl

Facts of the Week 2-27-12

Tammy — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:49:59 +0000

~ Seventy-three percent of Manila residents smoke.
~ At 90 weapons per 100 civilians, the US has the world’s highest rate of gun ownership, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007.
~ Pearls melt in vinegar.
~ The Hubble Space Telescope originally cost $2.1 billion to originally build.
~ The world’s longest game of Monopoly lasted more than 660 hours.
~ Mexico and Iceland have the highest per capita consumption of Coca-Cola.
~ Only humans sleep on their backs.
~ It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.
~ Men get hiccups more often than women.
~ On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
~ There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.
~ Butterflies taste with their feet.

Tammy

Presidential facts

daryl — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:36:09 +0000

Presidential facts:
~ The annual salary for the President of the United States of America is $400,000.
~ After receiving a pretend military commission, Abraham Lincoln’s son Tad once fired on the Cabinet.
~ The ninth President, William Henry Harrison, was the only President who studied to be a medical doctor.
~ Abraham Lincoln was the tallest U.S. President at 6 feet, 4 inches.
~ Harry Truman was a haberdasher before becoming President.
~ Martin Van Buren, the eighth President, is sometimes credited with creating the word “OK.” Van Buren was from Kinderhook, New York. During his campaign, Old Kinderhook (O.K.) clubs formed to support the President.
~ Eight Presidents never attended college: Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, and Cleveland.

daryl

Facts of the Week 2-13-12

daryl — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:59:52 +0000

Book facts:
~ The Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA contains 28 million books and has 532 miles of shelving.
~ The bestselling author of all time is Agatha Christie. Since 1920 her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 45 foreign languages. She is outsold only by the Bible and William Shakespeare.
~ Between 1986 and 1996, Brazilian author Jose Carlos Ryoki de Alpoim Inoue had a massive 1,058 novels published. He writes westerns, science fiction and thrillers.
~ A rare first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll raised $1.5m at auction in New York, making this the most valuable children’s book ever sold. The book was Carroll’s own working copy that he used to prepare the text for a simplified version for younger children.

daryl

Facts Of The Week — Facts about the Big Island

daryl — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:25:23 +0000

~ The Big Island has a population of 175,784.
~ The Big Island of Hawaii is the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands, at just over one million years old.
~ Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984, is the most massive mountain on earth. From its base under the ocean to the summit, it is taller than Mount Everest.
~ The Big Island is 95 miles long from its southern tip to northern tip. From east to west it is 80 miles across.
~ In 1946, a 56-foot tsunami hit the east side of the Big Island.
~ Just below the summit of Mauna Kea, inside a cinder cone, is Lake Waiau, the only glacial lake in the mid-Pacific. At 13,020 feet above sea level, it is also one of the highest lakes in the world.

daryl

Facts Of The Week — Hawaii

daryl — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:29:55 +0000

~The state of Hawaii consists of eight main islands: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe and the Big Island of Hawaii.

~ Hawaii is the most isolated population center on the face of the earth. Hawaii is 2,390 miles from California; 3,850 miles from Japan; 4,900 miles from China; and 5,280 miles from the Philippines.

~Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee.

~More than one-third of the world’s commercial supply of pineapples comes from Hawaii.

~There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. * Vowels: A, E, I, O, U * Consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, W

~From east to west Hawaii is the widest state in the United States.

~The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting tops of the biggest mountain range in the world.

~Honolulu’s zenith star, (the star that rises directly above it) is Arcturus. The Hawaiians called it Hokule’a. (Hoe koo lay uh.)

~Under-sea volcanoes created Hawaii.

daryl

Facts of the Week 12-19-11

George Thomas — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:55:30 +0000

Interesting Facts about Christmas:
~ In the early Church, Christmas was not celebrated as a major feast. The first evidence of the Church attempting to put a date on the day of Christ’s birth comes from 200 AD, when theologians in Alexandria decided it was the 20th of May. By the 380s, the Church in Rome was attempting to unite the various regions in using December 25th as the universal feast day, and eventually that is the day that stuck. As so often was the case in the early Church, the influence of the pagan feasts of Rome is seen, because December 25 was the festival for the birth of the sun. St Cyprian makes mention of this: “O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born.”
~ Jesus Christ is Jewish.

George Thomas

Facts of the Week 12-12-11

daryl — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:21:32 +0000

Facts about Louisiana:
~ An early French explorer, Robert de LaSalle, named Louisiana for Louis XIV, King of France.
~ Louisiana’s first territorial governor, William C.C. Claiborne, had great admiration for the brown pelican. than let its young starve, would tear at its own flesh to feed them. The Governor’s great respect for the pelican led him to first use the bird on official documents.
~ Louisiana’s barrier islands combine to form approximately 20,000 square miles.
~ The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, with a length of 23.87 miles, is America’s longest bridge built entirely over water.
~ The site of one of the oldest known North American civilizations is Poverty Point in West Carroll Parish, where an Indian village existed 3,500 years ago.

daryl

Facts of the Week 11-28-11

daryl — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:47:32 +0000

Pasadena facts:
~ At least 10 percent of Pasadena’s 22.5 square mile area is historically designated.
~ Old Pasadena spans 22 blocks of historic streets and alleyways.
~ The Rose Bowl Flea Market, “the granddaddy of all flea markets,” attracts more than 2,200 vendors with over a million items for sale.
~ Temperatures average 76 degrees F year-round in Pasadena.
~ As of 2010 United States Census, the population of Pasadena was 137,122, making it the 180th-largest city in the United States.
~ Pasadena is the ninth-largest city in Los Angeles County, and on June 19, 1886, became the fourth to be incorporated in Los Angeles County.
~ Pasadena is the setting of the TV shows “Brothers & Sisters” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

daryl

Facts of the Week 11-21-11

daryl — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:31:16 +0000

Facts about Thanksgiving:
~ Thanksgiving was declared an official national holiday by Congress in 1941.
~ Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor and author who wrote the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” played a major role in the campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.
~ Approximately 42.2 million Americans travel more than 50 miles from home over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the AAA.
~ The Detroit Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving since 1934 (except between 1939 and 1944).
~ About one fifth of the total 235 million turkeys consumed in the United States in 2007 was eaten on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation.