Funny Flamingo Fact

There are more plastic Flamingos in the United States than real ones.

Beetle Juice

Cleopatra made her lipstick from crushed beetles, which gave it a red pigment, and ants, which she used for the base.

Heavy World

The Earth weighs approx. 5.972 × 10²⁴ kg or about
6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.

Puss Pee Poster

Cat urine glows under a black light.

I wonder if they use it as ink for college dorm room posters?

Seeing Dollar Signs

The $ (dollar sign) is a combination of the letters "P" and "S", "PS" being the abbreviation for pesos, the principal coin in circulation in the U.S. until 1794.

Tongue Trivia Tidbit

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

Nine-Banded Armadillo

A nine-banded armadillo always gives birth to identical quadruplets.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

In the now-iconic 1966 animated TV special Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Boris Karloff was the narrator and voice of the Grinch, but didn't sing its most famous song, You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.  The singer was Thurl Ravenscroft, arguably best known as being the voice of Tony The Tiger from 1953-2004.

A Pseudonym By Any Other Name

Born on this day in 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known as "Mark Twain", but before settling on that, wrote under other pen names such as "Josh" and "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass".

Cranberry Trivia

Ripe cranberries bounce - hence their alternate name, "bounceberry".

It's Good To Be The King

Well, Stephen King.  THE Stephen King, that is.

Besides the famous horror writer living in Bangor, Maine, there are 2,068 other Stephen Kings living in the U.S. (according to the 2010 Census), 168 of them in Texas.

Boney Dreams

Dreaming of a skeleton on display may signify new, fascinating friends or coming events.

Or, it could mean you've got a hankerin' for some ribs.

The "at" Symbol

The earliest known example of @ is found in the 1345 Bulgarian translation of the 12th century Manasses Chronicle, which gives a brief synopsis of the history of the world up to the end of the 11th century. In it, @ was used as the symbol for “amin” (amen).

The Smithsonian website differs in the first use, but there's some interesting information in this piece:

The Accidental History of the @ Symbol

Fear of Toads

The fear of toads is called bufonophobia.

Some Batty Trivia

Bats are the only mammals that fly.
(Flying squirrels merely glide)

Titanic Tapeworm Trivia

The longest tapeworm ever found in the human body was 102 feet long.

New Moon

New Moon - the phase of the moon when it is in conjunction with the sun and invisible from earth, or shortly thereafter when it appears as a slender crescent.

There was a new moon last night (Sept 1) and  there will be another on Sept 30.

According to superstition, two new moons occurring in one month foretells bad weather.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Louisa May Alcott was with her dying father in 1888 when he said "I am going up, come with me."  Alcott replied "Oh, I wish I could." and died two days after him.

Pay Day

In 1940, Vermont resident Ida May Fuller became the first beneficiary of Social Security payments.  Her first check, number 00-000-001, was for $22.54.

The McFarthest Spot

What's so special about this place in S. Dakota?

According to Atlas Obscura, it is the McFarthest Spot -the farthest you can be in the continental US from a McDonald's location.

From the website:

Geographically speaking, in the lower 48 United States it is impossible to get farther away from a McDonald's restaurant than this location in South Dakota. From the McFarthest Spot it would take 145 miles driving (only 120 miles as the crow flies) before a visitor could devour their next two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

McFarthest Spot