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Reflections
After first flight to Paris, Lindbergh didn't take any chances : Reflections : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisAfter first flight to Paris, Lindbergh didn't take any chances
| 3/24/2011
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So were your Irish eyes smiling?
'Twas the season, a week ago, of the year when they dye the Chicago River green-though it's often hard to tell whether it's the dye or the algae that has done the trick-and when those in the know enjoy corned beef and cabbage and lots of beer. Or at least ale. And maybe bitter and stout. As a harbinger of spring, St. Patrick's Day is pretty good, although it can be taken to excess. I recall a certain St. Patrick's Day during my undergrad days (the only kind I ever had) at Northern Illinois University during which I saw for the very first time people actually lying drunk in the gutter. They looked peaceful, and like they had had fun.
Me, after a good helping of homemade corned beef, I am now looking towards spring, even if this is March in northern Illinois. So I anxiously wait as birds sing and rabbits look upon each other with longing eyes. Helping to usher in the rites of spring (so to speak), here are a few things I never would have found out if I hadn't opened all my junk mail each and every day the mail carrier showed up out front:
Proving he was no idiot, Charles Lindberg, after flying solo across the Atlantic, came home by ocean liner.
It says here the Mona Lisa, now valued at $500 million, sold for $330,000 just 10 years after it was painted. Now there's junk mail for you-there weren't any dollars, U.S. ones at any rate, 10 years after the Mona Lisa was painted, so how the painting sold for $330,000 is, shall we say, is somewhat questionable factoid. Like the ones in grocery store tabloids or on Fox "News," for instance. Now if it would have said it sold for the equivalent of $330,000, that would be different. At any rate, the Louvre, which owns the painting, recently paid $6 million just to refurbish Ms. Lisa, which, as the farmer used to say, ain't hay.
Kids still like to wander the railroad tracks looking for treasure? In 1983, a Florida schoolboy found a bag of diamonds on a railroad track while he was looking for his missing bike. The jewels remained unclaimed for over a year and were then auctioned off for $350,000, which went to the lucky kid. In the world of junk mail, miracles happen.
While there are some vacant storefronts in local malls, our problems don't hold a candle to the fix the world's largest shopping mall, in terms of gross leasable area, is in. The South China Mall, located in Dongguan, China, boasts 6.6 million square feet under roof. Unfortunately, 99.2 percent of its 1,500 stores are unoccupied.
Just in case that old time machine in the basement decides to fire itself up, keep in mind that about 3000 B.C., the Egyptians used a checkmark as the letter T, as in Mr. T. Check.
Speaking of the letter T, it is the second most frequently used letter in books, newspapers, and other material printed in English.
Know what Gen. George "Blood and. Guts" Patton was known for before he became the best tactical general in World War II? He was the first American to enter the Olympic Pentathlon.
Although the Chinese today dominate ping-pong, guess who invented the sport? The first-known mention of a game resembling table tennis was listed in a London catalog of 1884. Those fun-loving Brits! First cricket, and then ping-pong.
How long has capitalism been around? The oldest stock exchange is said to be the one in Antwerp, Belgium, which claims to have been established in 1531. What do you suppose they did to inside traders back then, draw and quarter them? Oh, for the good old days!
Do you like ballet as much as I do? If so, go directly to the next factoid. If you're still with me, be advised the first ballet was performed in Paris in 1581 as a five and a half hour spectacle. Today's ballets just seem to last that long.
The top money prize ever awarded in a radio contest went to a 15 year-old from Cincinnati, who won $25,000 a year for 40 years way back in 1980.
Worried about the fall of the dollar? Guess which nation has the world's largest reserves of gold. If you guessed us, or U.S., you're right.
Speaking of the world's largest, the United States Government is the world's largest landowner, keeping title to 732 million acres in its sweaty bureaucratic mitts.
Alexander the Great made his soldiers keep clean-shaven so enemy troops couldn't grab them by their beards. That's why most journalists are clean-shaven today, by the way.
Like frog legs? The Goliath frog of West Africa measures more than 30 inches and weighs about seven pounds. More like frog hams, I'd say.
Prell on your mind? The word "shampoo" comes from the Hindu word "shampu," which means "to press." Do you suppose the Hindus invented squeeze bottles, too?
Fish can become seasick if kept on board a ship, although I suppose if a fish is on a ship, seasickness is the least of its worries.
Caffeine reaches its peak stimulant effect two to four hours after it is consumed, and may continue to keep you awake for up to seven hours.
The flag of Denmark is the oldest unchanged, national flag existence, dating back to the 13th Century.
Remember when we were kids and we were told people were starving in India and that's why we should eat our lima beans? Or liver? Well get this: it's reported the Emperor Jahangir, a ruler of India who died in 1627, owned a total of 2,235,600 carats of pearls, 931,500 carats of emeralds, 376,600 carats of rubies, 279,450 carats of diamonds, and 186,300 carats of jade. How about that guy? You'd have thought he could have spared a carat or two to save us from having to eat liver, wouldn't you?
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