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FACTS OF THE MONTH:
Because the October Revolution, marking the Communist takeover of Russia in 1918, occured while the country was still using the Julian calendar (one of the Soviet Union's first actions was to switch to the Gregorian calendar everyone else uses), the anniversary of the October Revolution is celebrated on November 7th.
Thirteen people are killed each year in accidents with vending machines.
Michael Landon in the only person to appear on the cover of TV Guide three weeks in a row.
A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.
Twelve newborn babies are delivered to the wrong parents daily.
Leonardo di Caprio's professional acting debut was on TV's "Romper Room".
Even though the value of pi has been calculated to billions of digits, there is no reason you will ever need to use more than forty-seven. At that point it is possible to measure the circumference of the entire universe to the accuracy of a proton.
| from Y2K
WEEK:
If you're sick of using the Latin word "millennium" you could replace it with its Greek counterpart, "chiliad". In 1984, a group of Colordao school children wrote essays on the condition of life in the year 2001. Over half of them had us struggling through the aftermath of World War III. The year 2000 will mark the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach. People traveling to the South Pacific to be the among the first to usher in the new millennium may get more than they bargained for: in that part of the world, December & January is right in the middle of hurricane season. The London Ritz Hotel received so many reservation requests for 31 December 1999 it decided not to accept any. Instead, the rooms will be distributed by lottery. Since 1997 a group of forty has been traversing the globe doing nothing but shopping with American Express cards to see which locales can handle Y2K expiration dates. Nevada was the first state to classify Y2K computer problems as "acts of God", therefore the state's government cannot be held liable for any problems. |
Years before the Florida Marlins were formed, the 1989 movie "Back to the Future Part II" included a 21st-century scene saying that Florida would win the 1997 World Series. They did.
Illinois has more personalized license plates than any other state.
Cowboy boots have high heels in order to keep the shoes from falling out of the stirrups.
The Greek national anthem has 158 verses. Most Greeks only ever learn the first three.
An estimated 2.2 million Americans played "Wookie Hooky" from work in order to see "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace" on opening day.
Antarctica is the only continent that does not have land areas below sea level.
More people are killed annually by coconuts than by sharks.
In the original version, Cinderella's wicked stepsisters chopped off their own toes so that their feet would better fit the fur slipper. In the end their eyes were pecked out.
If atheism were an organized religion, it would be the world's tenth largest.
Dr. Seuss created the word "nerd" for his book "If I Ran the Zoo".
Giraffes sleep only five minutes a day.
Four out of five Americans over the age of 100 are women.
The orca is not a whale: it is the largest member of the dolphin family.
If you multiply 526,315,789,473,684,210 by another number, that second number can be found within the result.
"Kemosabe" may have a special meaning for Tonto, but in Navajo it translates to "soggy shrub".
Due to a lack of space, 98% of Japanese are cremated.
Sheep will not drink from running water.
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