December 25, 2011 (Christmas!)

Marilyn Monroe had six toes on her left foot. The extra toe was supposedly removed at some point during her adulthood.

December 24, 2011 (Christmas Eve!)

Rax means to stretch out.

December 23, 2011

Boxing day is a secular holiday the day after Christmas, it is also St. Stephen's Day, a religious holiday. But when December 26th is on a Sunday, boxing day is often moved to the 27th.

December 22, 2011

Male reindeer lose their antlers before Christmas. Only female reindeer keep them year round.

December 17, 2011

The sun set at 4:23 pm today.

December 16, 2011

There are more than 26 bones in the human foot and ankle.

December 15, 2011

Tebowing is kneeling on one knee and praying in a public place, or being photographed doing this.

December 13, 2011

Audrey Hepburn was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

December 12, 2011

Today is the 346th day this year.

December 10, 2011

Latkes are delicious!

December 8, 2011

The snickerdoodle is likely German in origin.

December 7, 2011

Walter Frederick Morrison invented the first flying disc in 1938.

December 5, 2011

Eric Whitacre will turn 42 on January 2nd.

December 4, 2011

Amazed by the number of children Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have? Don't be too critical. The record number of children to one woman is 69. Incredible! Check out some other wild facts about reproduction here: http://theophanes.hubpages.com/hub/Human-Reproductive-Records

December 3, 2011

Modern pipe organs work electronically, they used to be mechanic.

December 2, 2011

The average person loses 50 to 100 strands of hair everyday.

December 1, 2011

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's 20th child is due in April 2012. Congratulations to the family!

November 30, 2011

There is an antonym to the word sparkle . . . DARKLE!! It means to become clouded or gloomy. There are so many cool words! Thanks for that lesson Emily.

November 29, 2011

Gandhi was vegetarian.

November 28, 2011

A person from Gath is called a Gittite. Gath is a Philistine City/State.

November 27, 2011

Enmity is a usually mutual hatred. Amity is antonymous to enmity, meaning friendly relationships between nations.

November 26, 2011

Air BP is a supplier of aviation fuels and lubricants. It is one of the largest aviation fuel companies, supplying about 8 billion gallons of fuel and lubricants annually.

November 25, 2011

A jarl is a Scandinavian nobleman. Also, I'm better at Quiddler than Hilary.

November 24, 2011

More than 45 million turkeys are killed and eaten in the US at Thanksgiving. That's one sixth the number of turkeys eaten in the US in a year.

November 23, 2011

You don't have to not have a safe place to go. So where is the safe place? A tornado can send a 2x4 at 110 mph. At that speed, a 2x4 does not hesitate to blast through a wood shelter. However, you can be totally protected from during a tornado in a cement block structure. Even a car from above does no damage to a cement block structure!

November 22, 2011

Governor John Kitzhaber says he will halt the execution of Gary Haugen scheduled for next month, and he will not allow any other executions during his time in office.

November 21, 2011

The conversion rate of dollars to euros is currently about 1.37 to 1. When Malika was in Europe it was about 1.27 to 1.

November 20, 2011

There is a Lions' Club in Vienna, Austria.

November 19, 2011

Apparently the Americans never lost a war when donkeys were involved...I'm not sure if I can trust Psych...

November 18, 2011

Technically this is 10 minutes late, but oh well! When there is a sign by the highway that says "safety corridor" it means that stretch of the road has a higher than average number of car accidents, and they want you to be extra cautious!

November 17, 2011

Today I learned that if the absolute value of an alternating series converges, then the alternating series also converges. I also learned some Latin: voca me = call me!

November 16, 2011

The Swan Lake Ballet was first performed in Moscow in 1877, but it was not well received by audience members, musicians, and dancers alike. Some changes were made before it was performed again in 1895.

November 15, 2011

Today is Elizabeth's birthday, so this first fact is in honor of her. While I was reading from my book of Marx, I started to wonder whether the German eszett is always used for double 's' sounds, or if double s's also occur in the the language (ss). Wikipedia told me that the eszett (ß) is only used after long vowels and diphthongs. A double s (ss) is used after short vowels. I also learned that amn't is a word! 

November 14, 2011

EEG stands for electroencephalogram.

November 13, 2011

Time Square is named for the good times you have while you're there. Thank you Michael Scott. But more seriously, Steve Carell's birthday is August 16th, 1962. That makes him 50 next year!

November 12, 2011

Jove is another name for the god Jupiter. So, the phrase "by Jove," is like saying by god.

November 11, 2011

King Charles VI of France demanded lavender stuffed pillows everywhere he went.

November 10, 2011

It's amazing the number of words I run across in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia of which I'm not sure the meaning. Today I learned that a precipice is a very steep rock face, or cliff.

November 9, 2011

Berenjena is the Spanish word for eggplant.

November 8, 2011

Bats are the only true flying mammals, and are more closely related to dolphins than to mice! They also pollinate bananas and avocados, and they eat about 600 mosquitoes per hour!

November 7, 2011

A great tip for getting good picture of kids is to let them play and take candid photos!

November 6, 2011

Today has been a day of discovery! This morning I learned that Hank is a nickname for Henry. I also learned that Rex Putnam served as Oregon Superintendent of Public Institution for 25 years, the longest of any Oregon superintendent in history. Rex Putnam High School was named after him. He is not to be confused with William Lowell Putnam, Harvard graduate and lawyer in the late 1800's to early 1900's. When he passed away, his wife established the William Lowell Putnam Intercollegiate Memorial Fund in order to begin The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition which has been going on since 1935.

November 5, 2011

On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was part of the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to kill King James I. In celebration of the King's survival, people around London lit bon fires. Years later, this celebration became a national holiday.

Remember remember the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason, and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot.

November 4, 2011

Over dinner at Crazy Pepper, my dad taught me the meaning of the word 'largesse.' It is synonymous to the word 'generosity.' However, I also learned that my dad does not know his parts of speech very well.

November 3, 2011

Today Purple Moose taught me how to say I like you a lot in Latin: multo te amo!

November 2, 2011

On November 3, 1957, the Soviet Union sent the first animal - a dog named Laika - into space. Poor Laika died in orbit on Sputnik II.

November 1, 2011

One of my good friends proclaimed this the best fact she's ever learned, and I agree: Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, calls sick children in hospitals and talks to them in character.

October 31, 2011

The word qur'an means reading/reciting.

October 30, 2011

While watching Bones this afternoon I learned that the tradition of bringing someone a gift while they are in the hospital or ill comes from the tradition of making a sacrifice to a god. The gift became a replacement, but signifies that the giver wishes for the god to be with the receiver and improve his/her health.

October 29, 2011

As I was reading my Hood River News, which I get about a week late, I learned that there is going to be an increase in Bridge toll on the Hood River/White Salmon bridge. Starting January 1, 2012, it will increase by about 33%, from $0.75 to $1.00.

October 28, 2001

Today I learned that old people don't drink enough water.

October 27, 2011

A couple days ago I heard someone mention alchemy, and I didn't know what that was. The word came up again while I was reading Prince Caspian today on my radio show (Lewis, Latin, and Licorice Sticks). So, I decided to look it up! Alchemy is essentially the medieval science of trying to turn base metals into gold, it also has to do with trying to prolong life. Today I also learned that non troppo means not too/not too much in Italian.

October 26, 2011

Today in Chorale, I learned that the text in Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, written by Heinrich Schütz, the Virgin Mary's song of praise. I also just discovered that Word does not have the 'u' with umlaut (with two dots over it) in its symbol bank. 

October 25, 2011

The graph of arctan(x) asymptotes at y=π/2 and y= -π/2. 

October 24, 2011

Today I learned that Bill Gates is the 20th richest person of all time. The richest man of all time was John D. Rockefeller. I also learned that an ox-hide ingot of copper is neither ox-hide or oxide, but is, in fact, a slab of copper shaped like an ox-hide.