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FACTS OF THE MONTH:
There are approximately 54 octillion (54,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) possible bridge hands.
The heart beats faster during a brisk walk or heated argument than it does during sex.
The actors portraying the parents on "Family Ties", Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross, were born on the same day (21 June 1947).
Irregularities in the orbit of Uranus led to the discovery of Neptune: its position was calculated, then it was found. Neptune's orbit also has irregularities, ones that cannot be explained away by Pluto, suggesting a tenth planet waiting to be discovered.
One of the longest words in the English language that can be used in the bonus round of "Wheel of Fortune" which does not contain an R, S, T, L, N or E is 'woodchuck'.
When the Hays Production Code was established for motion pictures it meant, among other things, that the cartoon character Betty Boop could no longer be drawn in, for example, nothing but undergarments. From that point on, animator Max Fleischer drew Betty fully clothed, except for one frame per cartoon, in which she would be completely topless. The one frame goes by so fast it cannot be seen except by the subconscoius, although anyone with a VCR and freeze-frame could see it today, if they know when to look.
Even though the inside of the "Brady Bunch" house is a two-story building with a good-sized attic, the house seen on the outside was only one floor, with a miniscule attic. That second-floor window seen on the left side of the house's exterior is a fake hung for the show.
The Eiffel Tower contains 2,500,000 rivets.
Eskimos use refrigerators to keep food from freezing.
October 10th is National Metric Day (10th day of the 10th month). Set your alarm because it can be celebrated twice: at 10:10am & 10:10pm.
| from NEW WORLD
WEEKEND: Columbus wasn't trying to prove the world was round, everybody already knew that (i.e., it wasn't flat). What was in dispute was the circumference. Chris believed the world was much smaller than everybody else thought and a quicker route to the Indies could be made by going the other way. Everybody else was right. The only thing that saved him was a previously unknown continent between him and the Indies. Columbus keep two sets of logs: one he kept hidden showing their true distance, another one he let the crew see with false entries, making it seem that they weren't as far out so that the crew would think they could turn back at any time. Many years later it was determined that, due to a math error, the fake log was actually closer to the accurate distance than the supposed real log was. The Western Hemisphere was named after Amerigo Vespucci, the first to realize that this was a new continent, and not eastern Asia, as Columbus believed until his death. |
The earth is struck by up to 150 tons of meteorites every year. Of all those tons, only seven people have been recorded as being hit by them.
Bamboo can grow as much a three feet per day.
On the 60s TV series "Lost in Space", the spaceship Jupiter II launched from Earth on 16 October 1997.
A boomerang only returns to the thrower if it misses its target.
The Japanese word for '42' doubles as the Japanese word for 'death'.
Back in 1910 football games an incomplete forward pass resulted in a 15-yard penalty.
The ending of Daylight Savings Time makes the last Sunday of October the longest day of the year and October the longest month of the year.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was named after the daughter of President Grover Cleveland. Ruth Cleveland was the first girl born in the White House.
William Shakespeare has no living descendants.
If you take the Bible as a literal timeline and run all the begats backward to Genesis 1:1, the Universe reportedly began on 23 October 4004 BC. Because our calendar has no year 0, Existence turned 6000 years old on 23 October 1997.
 WHAT COULD'VE BEEN AT THE MOVIES: Buddy "Beverly Hillbillies" Ebsen was originally chosen to play the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz." He developed a life-threatening allergic reaction to the metal paint and had to be recast. Tom Selleck was the original choice to play Indiana Jones. He couldn't get out of his "Magnum" contract. However, rumor has it he may play Indi's brother in the next movie. Pierce Brosnan's turn as James Bond was delayed a decade. He was originally given the part just as his series "Remington Steele" was about to be cancelled. The publicity surrounding 007 renewed viewer interest in the series and it was renewed for another season, giving the Bond role to Timothy Dalton. BONUS: That fifth-season renewal also forced co-star Stephanie Zimbalist to give up the role in "RoboCop" that eventually went to Nancy Allen. The studio's original choices for the Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart parts in "Casablanca" were Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan. "Fatal Attraction" originally had a very different ending. As it was first filmed, the Glenn Close character committed suicide, but planted evidence to make it show that Michael Douglas's character murdered her. The last scene showed police carting Douglas off to jail. Before Christopher Reeve achieved superstardom as Superman, both Paul Newman and Robert Redford has turned down the role of the Man of Steel. Newman also passed on the part of Lex Luthor, while Carrie Fisher was an early possibility for Lois Lane. W.C. Fields was originally considered for the title role in "The Wizard of Oz," while Shirley Temple was the first choice for Dorothy. Fields has a disagreement with the studio heads, and the rival studio that had Temple under contract wouldn't loan her to MGM for the movie. |
Despite legend, no witches--or anyone else, for that matter--were ever burned at the stake in Salem, Massachusetts.(Nineteen were hanged and one was stoned.)
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