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Red- We sometimes call a special occasion a "red- Why the name "Cape of Good Hope?" In fact, Bartholemeu Diaz, the Portuguese explorer who in 1488 became the first European
to sail around the cape at the southern tip of Africa, named it the Cape of Storms.
However, the King of Portugal, wanting to encourage others to sail around Africa
to India, gave it a pleasant name - The Center of the Bible Someone sent us the following as part of a longer email. Thanks. It's worth sharing. THE CENTER OF THE BIBLE The shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 117. Fordlandia The place in Brazil south of the Amazon along the Tapajos River where, from 1928
to 1946, the Ford Motor Company tried to produce rubber. Today, Fordlandia is abandoned.
On the land, Ford had carved a town from the Brazilian jungle, laid down miles of
roads and railroads, built a modern port, a factory, schools, churches, hundreds
of brick and stucco bungalows, and a fully equipped hospital. The town had swimming
pools, tennis courts, and a golf course. Workers cleared thousands of acres and planted
over five million rubber seeds. Botanists secured the finest, highest- Carrots in the service of British wartime propaganda During the second World War, British gunners were able, surprisingly, to shoot down German planes in the darkness of night. The British circulated a story during the Battle of Britain that their success was due to the extraordinary ability of their pilots to see in the dark, and that that ability came from eating a secret carrot diet. The story achieved two purposes. On the one hand, it hid from the Germans the fact that the British had secretly introduced airborne radar technologies (Airborne Interception Radar), which allowed them to “see” Nazi bombers better at night. On the other hand, it helped solve a food problem in Britain. There was a glut of carrots, and the Government let it be known that the same carotene in carrots responsible for the RAF’s increasing success in shooting down enemy bombers would help ordinary citizens see better at night during the frequent wartime blackouts. The Ministry of Food and Ministry of Agriculture pushed this propaganda through advertisments in all the media. The slogan was “Carrots keep you healthy and help you see in the blackout." Pamphlets with messages and recipes were widely circulated. This had the effect of encouraging Britons to buy and use more and more carrots. The propaganda was based on a truth: carrots have beta carotene, which does help people with a vitamin A deficiency to see better generally, and improves night vision. It does nothing for people who have no vision problems. Why
Fascinating rearrangements: The Words The Letters Rearranged George Bush ... He bugs Gore Dormitory ... Dirty room Desperation ... A rope ends it The Morse Code ... Here come dots Slot Machines ... Cash lost in em Animosity ... Is no amity Mother- Snooze Alarms ... Alas! no more Z's A Decimal Point ... I'm a dot in place The Earthquakes ... That queer shake Eleven plus two ... Twelve plus one Developing dynamite, then the pursuing peace Venice is sinkingThe ancient, formerly rich and powerful, city of Venice, Italy is sinking into the sea. Venice rests on millions of wooden piles driven into marshy ground. It is estimated that the city has sunk by about seven centimeters a century for the past 1,000 years, but the sinking may have accelerated over the 100 years. In 1966, when the city risked being destroyed by a flood, the people of Italy realized that something had to be done. A project to protect the city from floodwaters has been planned. However, the project, involving a series of moveable dams, is controversial and expensive. Meanwhile, Venice remains vulnerable to high tides that each year erode buildings and flood squares. A large number of residents have moved out of Venice because of the constant flooding, and the city is fast becoming mainly a museum visited mostly by tourists. Kwanzaa or Kwanza Kwanzaa is a seven- Each day is dedicated to a particular principle (unity, self- The African- the ingathering of family, friends, and community; reverence for the creator and creation (including thanksgiving and recommitment to respect the environment and heal the world); commemoration of the past (honoring ancestors, learning lessons and emulating achievements of African history); recommitment to the highest cultural ideals of the African community (for example, truth, justice, respect for people and nature, care for the vulnerable, and respect for elders); and celebration of the "Good of Life" (for example, life, struggle, achievement, family, community, and culture). Kwanzaa is celebrated in the United States, Canada, England, the Carribean and Africa. George Washington's former nurse! 161 years old! The old black woman, P. T. Barnum put on show at Niblo’s Garden in New York on August 10, 1835, was declared to be the former nurse of George Washington, president of the United States of America. She was now blind and had no teeth. Her skin was shriveled and she suffered from partial paralysis. According to Barnum, she was 161 years old and weighed only 46 pounds. She was billed as “The Greatest Natural and National Curiosity in the World.” Her name was given as Joice Heth.
Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Did you know that the Supreme Court of the United States had to decide this question?
In 1893 the Court decided, for purposes of trade, to classify the tomato as a vegetable.
However, the tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable. Botanists regard the part of
a plant that carries seeds as its fruit. The tomato, therefore, is a fruit. The fruit
of a plant is usually the fleshy part of a plant that has developed from a flower
and has seeds. The three classes of fruit are (a) fleshy fruits with seeds in the
flesh (such as tomatoes, apples, berries and melons), (b) fruits containing pits
or stones (such as plums, cherries and peaches), and (c) dry fruits (such as peas,
beans, nuts, and grains). Did they really walk on the Moon? While most people accept that U.S. astronauts first got to the moon aboard the Apollo
11 mission on July 20, 1969, there are some who don’t. Those who don’t accept it
believe that the pictures of what happened that day were faked. The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) has been routinely responding to questions from doubters
for decades. However, ''Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?'' - The name of the lovely island of Key West, Florida does not have a lovely origin.
"Key" came from the Spanish "cayo", meaning little island. "West" is the way "huesco"
was pronounced. "Huesco" means bones. Key West therefore came out of the Spanish
for "island of bones" - What creatures live in the dead sea? When the white milky juice of the sapodilla tree coagulates, it is called chicle.
Chicle is the principal ingredient of chewing gum. While experimenters were looking
for a way to use this latex substance, Thomas Adams tried to make chicle into automobile
tires, toys, masks, and rain boots. However, all his experiments failed. It happened
that he put a piece of surplus stock into his mouth and the taste of it gave him
an idea. He added flavor to it and soon after he opened the world’s first chewing
gum factory. In February 1871, Adams New York Gum was placed on the market. Drug
stores sold his gum at a penny apiece. THE WALKING LEAF Walking leaves range from India to the Fiji Islands. And these walking leaves eat
leaves to survive. Are they cannibal leaves? In fact, the walking leaf is not a leaf
at all. It is a 3-
BEFORE SINGING MINIATURE HORSES You can have a horse as a house pet, if the laws in your locality allow you. Fallabella
horses are real, live horses that can live in your house, if you want. They are usually
about twenty inches high, but may be even smaller. THE MOST WIDELY USED DRUG IN AMERICA That’s aspirin, of course. Americans take over 50 million aspirin tablets every day….
that's over 15 billion tablets a year. A lot of the tablets are taken for everyday
aches and pains but increasingly people are taking them to reduce the risk of heart
disease. It is interesting that early aspirin ads used to say about aspirin: “DOES
NOT AFFECT THE HEART.” Medical authorities now believe that aspirin does affect the
heart …….. in a beneficial way. THE AMAZING STORY OF FLYING MILES ON THE CHEAP Here is an unusual story of a man who took advantage of a Healthy Choice promotion and got himself a lifetime of free air travel. Click here for the story. WD- Actually it's quite a nice name for the product everybody uses to loosen rusted parts,
free sticky mechanisms. It has real meaning. According to the WD- HOODED COFFEE Cappuccino is “espresso coffee mixed or topped with steamed milk or cream.” Where did it's name come from? From the Capuchin order (a Roman Catholic religious order) of friars. Their 16th century hoods were called cappuccinos and the color of the coffee resembled the color of the habit of a Capuchin friar. The word was first used in English in 1948. LINCOLN WAS RIGHT Abraham Lincoln sagely observed: "No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens." THE STORY OF THE ONE DOLLAR BILL THE FOOD THAT DOES NOT SPOIL Low moisture unprocessed honey will keep indefinitely if stored in a sealed container free of outside moisture. Honey’s natural antibacterial agents do not allow bacteria to survive. It is best stored at room temperature. Refrigeration promotes granulation. THE RACCOON - The scientific name of the raccoon is Procyon lotor. “Lotor” means “washer” and is part of the raccoon’s name because early observations led naturalists to believe that the raccoon always washed its food before eating it. However, in spite of its frequent dunking of food and other objects in water and the washing motion the raccoon displays, most scientists today believe that there is some other reason for this activity. It has even been observed that sometimes the raccoon would eat food that is dirty. Whatever the reason for the animal’s constant washing motions, we should use it as a reminder to wash our hands and other parts of our bodies should they come in contact with the raccoon or its droppings. Raccoons, you see, sometimes contract the deadly viral infection known as rabies. TEE SHIRT QUOTES I took an IQ test and the results were negative. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately it kills all its Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. 3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can’t.
WHEN SHARK MEETS SEA HEDGEHOG, WHO WINS? Well, a lot depends on where and how they meet. Sharks are relatively large creatures. A sea hedgehog is small – less than one foot long. If a shark swallows a sea hedgehog, that should be the end of the matter for the sea hedgehog. But this is not the case. The shark dies and the sea hedgehog survives. The sea fur of the hedgehog (also called “globefish,” or “porcupine fish”) is studded
with tough, sharp quills. When it is attacked and swallowed by, say, a 20- WEAVERBIRDS - The weaverbird, a relative of the sparrow, is found mainly in Africa, with a few
species inhabiting Asia. The nests of weaverbirds are woven (hence the name) of grasses
and other plant materials. Many species are colonial, building dozens of nests in
a single tree; many pairs of birds nest in a single huge, cooperatively built structure
with separate entrances. As many as seventy birds can populate a single tree, making
it into a veritable birds’ apartment house, their bottle- WHO WAS SALLY HEMINGS? She was the light- WHAT IS BISHOP ROCK? No, it has nothing to do with music. It’s a little island southwest of the United Kingdom with only a lighthouse on it. It is also listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the smallest island in the world. Incidentally, the largest island in the world is Greenland. DON'T BE FOOLED Your funny bone is not a bone. It's a nerve. WHAT IS AN OCTOTHORPE? Octothorpe is one of the names used for the # symbol on telephone keypads and typewriter or computer keyboards. It is also called the "number sign" or the "pound sign" and a number of other less familiar names. Why the “pound sign?” It was sometimes used to designate "£" (British money) by Americans whose typewriter keyboards did not have this symbol, and even to designate “lb” (weight). Now that you know, you may go ahead and show off …… at your own risk. GETTING OLD Does this sound familiar or what? MEMORIAL DAY Memorial Day has traditionally been a day of remembering the many who lost their
lives during the Civil War and other wars in which the United States has been involved.
However, increasingly it is for many also a time to honor all loved ones who have
passed on before. YOUR BONES - A human baby is born with 300 bones. A human adult has about 206 bones. How come? The baby’s bones, made of a special material called cartilage, is soft and flexible. During childhood, the cartilage grows and hardens. During puberty, some bones start to grow together. No bone material is lost, but because a number of bones fuse together the number of individual bones is smaller. SOME OBSERVATIONS Every teenager should get a high school education. Even if they already The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a THE LITTLE TITTLE Why is the dot over this i called a tittle? MICROWAVE DANGER The microwave unit in your kitchen is usually a very safe device, but there is danger in heating water alone in a container. Usually, when water is heated bubbles are formed and they release energy that would otherwise build up in the heated substance. That is, the water boils. In the microwave oven, if the water is heated long enough a phenomenon called superheating can cause the water to heat up past its boiling point without actually boiling. When the cup or other container is then disturbed by movement, or by the adding of instant coffee granules, or a spoon, or whatever you put in it, the pent up energy is released violently. People have been injured by the explosive action of water which would not boil in the microwave. The experts advise that you put your teabag, or your coffee, or whatever, in the
cup before putting the cup in the microwave. These items prevent the dangerous superheating. TRAFFIC LIGHTS Traffic lights were used before the invention of the motorcar. Before traffic lights and the motorcar, policemen were stationed at busy intersections to direct the traffic. In 1868, a revolving gas lantern with red (for “stop”) and green (for “caution”) signals was introduced at an intersection in London, England to control the flow of horse buggies and pedestrians. When motorcars were introduced to the US in the late 1890s, Police Officer William Potts used railroad signals for street traffic. His electric traffic lights, with amber light added, were installed in 1920 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The first of them was installed on the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit. They were manually controlled. It was Garrett Morgan, a gifted African- THE DURIAN - The tiny ant loves it. The huge elephant loves it. Many people love it. But a lot
of other people find it extremely offensive and can't stand it. It's the durian - SCAMS, HOAXES ..... THE LOT There are many scams and hoaxes on the internet. You may have seen a lot of them already. One of the sites on the Web dedicated to exposing them is Scambusters.org. You may want to look at it. THE ABC ISLANDS The ABC islands are Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao which sit close to each other in the Caribbean Sea. The official language of these islands is Dutch, but people there also speak English and Papiamento.
SPITTING MAD In many ways, the llama is a wonderful animal. To the Indians of Peru it has been
almost indispensable. It is a great help as a pack animal carrying loads up to about
100 lbs. However, if an Indian, or anybody, were to urge a llama to go on when it
was tired or just unwilling, he would be doing so at his own risk. The angry llama
could spit some of its foul- WHAT DO WEDDING RINGS MEAN? Why do we use rings in our marriage ceremonies and wear them after? We do not know for sure. However, it is in Egyptian literature that we find the first reference to the use of rings in making marriage vows. In hieroglyphics, the writing used by the ancient Egyptians, a circle, which of course has no beginning and no end, represents eternity. The vows, symbolized by the ring, are therefore supposed to last through eternity. A CRICKET FESTIVAL IN ITALY In Florence, Italy and nearby areas there is a Festival of the Cricket which is very popular with children. The cricket referred to is the insect. It is sold in stores just like any other pet. Boys and girls choose their own crickets and carry them around in tiny, painted, wood or wire cages and also present some to relatives and friends. The streets are full of excitement and fun, much of the noise coming from the chirping of the crickets. The children try keeping the crickets alive as long as they can. HOW NOW, MISTER COW? Why do cows wear bells? What is the most important use for cowhide? What does one call a sleeping cow? AN INTERESTING TIME For one minute on February 20, 2002, those with 24- WHY DOES NOBODY DRAW IN THE DRAWING ROOM? The answer is that that was never its purpose. The term seems to have come into use in the high society in England in the 16th century. The practice was that after a formal dinner the men would remain in the dining room talking about what men talk about, while the ladies would withdraw another room to talk about what ladies talk about. That room to which they would withdraw became known as the “withdrawing room” and later the “drawing room.” The current meaning of the term is “A formal room where visitors can be received and entertained.” CONSIDER THESE A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor. ******************************************************* ABOUT THE WHITE ELEPHANT Naturally, the expression has a history. Throughout the Far East, white elephants, which are quite rare, have always been thought to very special. In Thailand, when a white elephant was born, it had to be presented to the King. In ancient times, the King of Siam (now Thailand) gave white elephants to people he wanted to ruin, because keeping an elephant was expensive, and a white elephant even more so. Of course, this special gift from the king could not be refused. Most Thais believe that a white elephant embodies the soul of a dead person or even of an ancient god. It is therefore specially cared for and even worshipped. When a white elephant dies, its passing is mourned as if it were a human being.
A FEW DEFINITIONS Boss - ***************************************************** CONSIDER THESE Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? ***************************************************** PERFECT UPBRINGING To bring up children perfectly, just have the families exchange them. Everybody knows what to do with the neigbors' kids. THE COLD WITHIN Six humans trapped by happenstance Their dying fire in need of logs, The next man looking 'cross the way The third one sat in tattered clothes The rich man just sat back and thought The black man's face bespoke revenge And the last man of this forlorn group The logs held tight in death's stilled hands THE MAN CAN TALK, YES "I decided that I didn't want to be manacled and shackled by surreptitious little
constipated gnats, hypocritical and hypercritical bureaucrats and educrats who would
love to uplift their sagging posteriors at my expense." UNLIKELY TECHNOLOGY Copper wire was invented by two lawyers as they argued, then got physical, over a penny. HA! HA! HA! AT&T They called her AT&T - ****************************************************** CONSIDER THESE Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death. ******************************************************* PRONOUNCING ENGLISH Pronounce the word "through." Now remove the first two letters. You're left with "rough." How is it that those two words are pronounced so differently? This is not an attempt to give an answer, but merely to repeat a question from someone trying hard to learn the English language. He is doing a course and is getting through; but it's rough. EVERY LOYAL AMERICAN SINGS HIS NAME BARNACLE DISHES ******************************************************** CONSIDER THESE ...... Energizer Bunny arrested - ******************************************************** The Tate Family DIC TATE wants to run everything, while If only life could be like a computer If you messed up your life -
809 IS HARDLY WHAT YOU WANT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. MAJOR SCAM: We'd like to thank Verizon for bringing this scam to our attention. This scam has also been identified by the National Fraud Information Center and is costing victims a lot of money. There are lots of different permutations of this scam. HERE'S HOW IT WORKS: WHY IT WORKS: Be wary of email or calls asking you to call an 809 area code number. It's important to prevent becoming a victim of this scam, since trying to fight the charges afterwards can become A real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong. Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam. Sandi Van Handel |
POTPOURRI -
FROM HERE AND THERE