Did You Know.....

[larryJ]

I tot I saw a B-2 bomber!  I did, I did.  I did see a B-2 bomber.  (apologies to Tweety Bird.)

I was determined to not leave this life without seeing that dang bomber.  I positioned myself on the front porch with the door open so I could hear the TV and the announcement of the flyover.  I heard them say, "Wow, there it goes!"   I'm looking at the mountains to the north trying to pick out a low flying bomber or at least hear a bomber.  Then.................

Up above my house and a little to the North at about 2,000 feet, a magnificent B-2 bomber was angling up and banking to the North.  A beautiful sight and very noisy.  How did I ever miss this before?

I can cross this one off my bucket list.

Larryj

[larryJ]

more........

That the TV coverage is at the beginning of the parade at the intersection of Colorado Blvd. and Orange Grove Ave.  The first major obstacle for floats is making that right turn from Orange Grove onto Colorado.  Closer toward the end, where the parade turns North onto Sierra Madre Blvd., some floats built with high clearances are designed to fold down to clear the 210 freeway overpass. 

That those young people in the bands and on the floats, smiling and waving, are only at the beginning of a five mile walk.  Trust me, they are not smiling and waving so much at the end.  Arms begin to feel like lead.

That the bands with all the fancy dance moves aren't doing those moves at the end of the parade.

That there are several ambulances stationed along the last two or three miles of the parade for those marchers who become ill or pass out from heat exhaustion or just can't go on.  Dehydration is a big factor during this trek down the boulevard.  And, that band sponsors (parents, etc.) walk along on the sidewalks with bottles of water to refresh those who are in need. 

That when the parade is over, the floats are parked by Victory Park in Sierra Madre for visitors to walk close to and see the beauty of those floats.  Years ago, I went and all you do is walk along a path next to the floats to the end and back.  It was free.  That is no longer the case.  The Tournament of Roses Foundation now charges an admittance fee.

That, in Los Angeles, there are seven regular TV channels.  The parade is shown on three on them at once.  One station, Channel 5, will rebroadcast the parade at the end of the live parade.  And then again, one more time after that.

Larryj

[Warph]

           What a great game!!!!!  Go Ducks Quack...Quack!

                                 

[Warph]

Billion Dollar Home

Mukesh Ambani has money.  A lot of money.  With an estimated personal wealth of roughly $27 billion (give or take a few dimes), the chairman of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries is one of the ten richest people in the world.

And, by the looks of his house, he wants you to know it.

In 2002, Ambani purchased a nearly 50,000 square foot swath of land in an upscale part of South Mumbai... Altamont Road, in the Cumballa Hill area... where land prices can reach up to $2,500 per square foot.  (Manhattan's Fifth Avenue goes for about four times that, but Altamont Road is nonetheless one of the most expensive in the world.)  It took him five years to clear the legal red tape necessary to begin construction, but in 2007, Ambani broke ground on his house.... a house he named Antilia, after a mythical island in the Atlantic.  The house is, in a word, extravagant.

                                         

The home — which is habitable right now, but not yet fully completed...has 27 floors and stretches 550 feet toward the sky.  There is living space totalling 400,000 square feet; that is, roughly seven football fields.  It contains a parking garage for 168 cars and its own auto repair yard taking up one of its floors.  It does not have a swimming pool.... it has three. There's a ballroom, three floors of hanging gardens, a yoga studio, its own health spa, and a 50-person theatre.  There are three helipads and its own air traffic control tower.  And in case the three pools and the rest of the amenities aren't enough to escape the heat in South Mumbai — Antilia contains an "ice room," replete with man-made snow flurries.

The building requires six hundred full-time staff members and the building itself cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to build.... reports vary widely.  The building is estimated to be worth about $1 billion.

And only six people live there.


Bonus fact: At $39 billion, Warren Buffett is one of the few people worth more than Mukesh Ambani.  In 1957, he purchased a rather typical-looking five bedroom home in Omaha, Nebraska, seen here, for $31,500.  Buffett still lives in that house today.

                                       

Warren Buffett purchased the above-pictured house in 1957 for $31,500. Accounting for inflation, Buffett paid the present-day equivalent of $250,000 for the home. It is a five bedroom stucco in Omaha, Nebraska.

[Warph]

... that this is your chance to know EVERYTHING there is to know about weird surveys.  If you have a minute or two, check 'em out:


1.Nobody yet has explained satisfactorily why couples who marry in January, February, and March tend to have the highest divorce rates.

2.A recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy.

3.The US OfficA recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy.e of Consumer Affairs estimates 25 percent of ALL purchases result in some customer dissatisfaction. Yet two out of three people never complain because they don't think it'll help. Ironically, most businesses DO try to make good and value the feedback, especially from someone who doesn't make a habit of complaining.

4.The Average American/Canadian eats about 11.9lbs of cereal per year.

5.The Average American/Canadian drinks about 600 soda's per year.

6.More People use blue toothbrushes then red ones.

7.According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.

8.The average American family views television six hours each day.

9.About two hundred babies are born worldwide every minute.

10.Your statistical chance of being murdered is one in twenty thousand.

11.If you earn twenty thousand dollars a year, one minute of your time is worth a little more than seventeen cents.

12.One poll says one American in four has yet to ride in an airplane. As for the three out of four who have, most have flown several times. Incidentally, fewer than two percent have been "bumped" from a commercial flight. And for every person who prefers an aisle seat, there are three who prefer windows.

13.Five out of six people never keep diaries of any sort. Only six percent say they keep a daily diary, and many of these people are just Franklin Day Planner types, not real diarists.

14.Despite the fact that 77 percent of Americans go to the grocery store with a list, it's estimated that half of everything bought there is bought on impulse. Supermarkets report very strong sales of almost anything they stock at the check-out line.

15.More than one-third of us say our most difficult self-discipline challenge is weight, but almost as many cite spending. Coming in way behind these two are controlling our fears or our tempers, and fewer than two percent say their biggest challenge is smoking or drinking.

16.Two out of three people sleep on their sides, and they're about equally divided as to WHICH side. Of the remainder, slightly more sleep on their stomachs than sleep on their backs.

17.Forty percent of American adults cannot fill out a bank deposit slip correctly.

18.A survey finds that a quarter of all people who take a briefcase or something similar to work with them have got SOMETHING in it for self-defense.

19.Paranormal experts say people reach the peak of their ability to see ghosts when they're 7 years old.

20.Someone on Earth reports seeing a UFO every three minutes. In the U.S., reported sightings are most likely to occur in July, at 9 p.m. or 3 a.m.

21.Someone within 200 miles of your town claims to have had direct contact with a monster, ghost or other unexplainable being.

22.As many as nine out of ten people are right-handed, and the word for that side, "right," is derived from a variety of sources, all of which suggest strength. Left, on the other hand, comes from the Old English, lyft, for useless, weak.

23.The average New York City household generates 6.2 pounds of garbage each day. Every day, between 12,000 and 14,000 tons of solid waste are disposed at the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, New York.

24.The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs.

25.As much as six percent of the world's population may experience sleep paralysis, the inability to move and speak for several minutes after awakening.

26.Tide has 70 percent of the market share for detergent.

27.Forty percent of the American population has never visited a dentist.

28.A NUKE InterNETWORK poll found that 52 percent of Internet users have cut back on watching TV in order to spend more time online; 12 percent have cut back on seeing friends.

29.10 Percent of men are left-handed while only 8 percent of women are left-handed. Male or female, all left-handed people are "in their right mind."

30.A 1997 Gallup poll found that about one in four American workers - 24 percent - said that if they could do so, they would fire their boss.

31.A recent Gallup poll shows that 69 percent of Americans believe they will go somewhere after death.

32.
About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides.
33.About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them.

34.About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives.

35.August is the month when most baby's are born.

36.About 10 percent of the workforce in Egypt is under 12 years of age. Although laws protecting children are on the books, they are not well enforced, partly because many poverty-stricken parents feel forced to send their children out to help support the family.

37.Most humans can guess someone's sex with 95 percent accuracy just by smelling their breath.

38.Half of all men start to lose their hair by the time they turn 30. Everybody loses dozens of hairs a day - the key thing is whether or not they grow back. More than 40 percent of men wind up with significant hair loss.

39.According to one U.S. study, about 25 percent of all adolescent and adult males never use deodorant.

40.Focus group information compiled by CalComp revealed that 50 percent of computer users do not like using a mouse.

41.One in five American households move in a given year. The average American moves 11 times. But most of us - 61 percent - still live in the state we were born in. And big corporations report increasing resistance to transfers to new cities...with many people turning down promotions in order to stay put.

42.Before the Chinese take-over of Tibet in 1952, 25 percent of the males in the country were Buddhist monks.

43.By the end of the U.S. Civil War, 33 percent of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. This was a devastating situation for a nation struggling to recover economically from such a destructive war. On July 5, 1865, the Secret Service was created as a part of the Department of the Treasury to help suppress counterfeit currency.

44.Cold pizza is fairly popular. A survey found 15 percent actually PREFER pizza this way, suggesting that the number who love hot pizza but don't mind eating the leftovers cold the next day must be quite high indeed.

45.It is estimated that 60 percent of home smoke detectors in use do not work because they don't have a battery in them or the battery in the detector no longer has any potency.

46.Two-thirds of men wear briefs, 22 percent wear boxers, and six percent don't wear underwear (I assume 6% did not answer).

47.Nearly 87 percent of the 103 people polled in 1977 were unable to identify correctly an unlabeled copy of the Declaration of Independence.

48.According to a major hotel chain, approximately the same numbers of men and women are locked out of their rooms. 32 percent are less than fully dressed.

49.The population divides approximately in half between AM and PM people. But early-birds have the edge - 56 percent routinely rise early while 44 percent stay up late. Medical studies, by the way, find that people tend to work more productively in the morning.

50.A recent Gallup survey showed that in the United States 8 percent of kissers kept their eyes open, but more than 20 percent confessed to an occasional peek. Forty-one percent said they experienced their first serious smooch when they were age thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen; 36 percent between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. The most memorable kiss in a motion picture was in "Gone With The Wind" according to 25 percent of those polled.

51.Residential buildings use about 35 percent of all available electricity.

52.The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office.

53.Spaghetti is the favorite pasta shape, with 38 percent favoring it over other pasta shapes. The second favorite shape is elbow macaroni, at 16 percent.

54.In the United States, more than 25 percent of women's fashion dollars are spent on sizes 16 and up.

55.More than 50 percent of adults surveyed said that children should not be paid money for getting good grades in school.

56.More than a third of all adults hit their alarm clock's "snooze" button each morning, an average of three times before they get up. Those most guilty of snatching some extra sleep are those in the 25-34 age bracket, at 57 percent.

57.Ninety percent of U.S. households have at lease one remote control for the television; 8 out of 10 report losing it.

58.Canada is the largest importer of American cars.

59.Chocolate manufacturers use 40 percent of the world's almonds.

60.Each year approximately 250,000 American husbands are physically attacked and beaten by their wives.

61.
Occasionally, hot dog sales at baseball stadiums exceed attendance, but typically, hot dog sales at ballparks average 80 percent of the attendance.
62.Of devout coffee drinkers, about 62 percent of those who are 35 to 49 years of age say they become upset if they don't have a cup of coffee at their regular time. Only 50 percent of those under age 35 become upset.

63.There are more telephones than people in Washington DC.

64.Only about 30 percent of teenage males consistently apply sun protection lotion when going poolside, compared to 46 percent of female teens.

65.Out of the 34,000 gun deaths in the U.S. each year, fewer than 300 are listed as "justifiable homicide," the only category that could include shooting a burglar, mugger, or rapist.

66.Executives work an average 57 hours a week, but just 22 percent say their hours are a major cause of stress.

67.Only 3 percent of Americans ages 18 to 21 attended college in 1890.

68.From the 1850's to the 1880's, the most common reason for death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while caught in the stirrups.

69.Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial.

70.Hawaii is the only state in the United States where male life expectancy exceeds 70 years. Hawaii also leads all states in life expectancy in general, with an average of 73.6 years for both males and females.

71.Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.

72.Over 15 billion prizes have been given away in Cracker Jacks boxes.

73.While the average cost of air travel is about $60 per hour, using an air-phone during that plane trip can cost as much as $160 per hour.

74.There have been several documented cases of women giving birth to twins who had different fathers, including cases where the children were of different races. To do so, the mother had to have conceived both children in close proximity. There has also been one recent case where a mother gave birth to unrelated "twins." In that instance, the mother underwent in vitro fertilization and had her own child and the embryo of another couple accidentally implanted in her.

75.In 1990 there were about 15,000 vacuum cleaner related accidents in the U.S.

76.Pediatricians estimate that 58 percent of their young patients go to child care or school even when ill, according to a Gallup survey. This despite the fact that 81 percent of mothers working full-time have stayed home at times to care for a sick child.

77.Per a "Newsweek" poll, 49 percent of American fathers described themselves as better parents than their dads.

78.Per a national survey, 80 percent of U.S. teachers in grades kindergarten through eighth grade have received chocolate as a gift from their students.

79.In 1915, the average annual family income in the United States was $687 a year.

80.In 1970 only 5 percent of the American population lived in cities.

81.In 1977, less than 9 percent of physicians in the U.S. were women.

82.In 1990 the life expectancy of the average American male was 72.7 years and 76.1 years for females. In 1900 the life expectancy was 46.6 for males and 48.7 for females.

83.In 1995, each American used an annual average of 731 pounds of paper, more than double the amount used in the 1980s. Contrary to predictions that computers would displace paper, consumption is growing.

84.In 1996, Americans bought only 12 inches of dental floss per capita.

85.In a 1996 poll, the top reason for filing for bankruptcy, as cited by 29 percent, is that filers are "overextended." Only 15 percent of bankruptcy filers cited job problems, and only 17 percent cited health problems. Divorce accounted for 12 percent of filings. Six percent simply said they couldn't stand bill collectors.

86.Per capita, it is safer to live in New York City than it is to live in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

87.Police estimated that 10,000 abandoned, orphaned and runaway children were roaming the streets of New York City in 1852.

88.Results of a survey show that 76 percent of women make their bed every day, compared to 46 percent of men.

89.Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement.

90.Half of all people who have ever smoked have now quit.

91.
Seventy percent of house dust is made up of dead skin flakes.
92.Seventy-three percent of Americans are willing to wear clothes until the clothes wear out. The poll conducted by Louis Harris and Associates also revealed: 92 percent are willing to eliminate annual model changes in automobiles; 57 percent are willing to see a national policy that would make it cheaper to live in multiple-unit apartments than in single-family homes; 91 percent are willing to eat more vegetables and less meat for protein.

93.Since 1978, at least 37 people have died as a result of shaking vending machines, in an attempt to get free merchandise. More than 100 have been injured.

94.Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on Earth.

95.Sixty percent of big-firm executives said the cover letter is as important or more important than the résumé itself when you're looking for a new job.

96.Statistically speaking, the most dangerous job in the United States is that of Sanitation Worker. Firemen and Policeman are a close second and third, followed by Leather Tanners in fourth.

97.Statistically, traveling by air is the safest means of transportation. Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport handles more than 73 million passengers a year, making it the busiest airport in the world.

98.The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.

99.40,000 Americans are injured by toilets every year.

100.According to the US Government people have tried nearly 28,000 different ways to lose weight.

101.Meteorologists claim they're right 85% of the time.

102."Evaluation and Parameterization of Stability and Safety Performance Characteristics of Two and Three Wheeled Vehicular Toys for Riding." Title of a $230,000 research project proposed by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, to study the various ways children fall off bicycles.

103.5,840 people with pillow related injuries checked into U.S. emergency rooms in 1992.

104.8% of Americans twiddle their thumbs.

105.75% of people wash from top to bottom in the shower.

106.The average American looks at eight houses before buying one.

107.56% of the video game market is adults.

108.55,700 people in the US are injured by jewelry each year.

109.The average US worker toils for two hours and 47 minutes of each working day just to pay income tax.

110.The average American pays more in taxes than for food, clothing and shelter put together.

111.Portion of Harvard students who graduate with honors: 4/5

112.Chances that a burglary in the US will be solved: 1 in 7.

113.Portion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3

114.There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.

115.In 1984, 13,126 people were arrested in Federal drug cases.

116.In 1790, the U.S. government conducted its first head count. The total population was just under four million (3,929,625).

117.As of 1983, an average of Three billion Christmas cards were sent annually in the United States.

118.Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people.

119.Conception occurs in December more than any other month.

120.The most popular name given to boat-owners' boats is "Obsession".

121.

122.They call it puppy love: An American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33% of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on an answering machine while away.

123.In the U.S., 54% of wireless phone users are men and 46% are women.

124.The number one reason people choose to buy a wireless phone is for safety (nearly 50% of those who own wireless phones purchased it for safety).

125.There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.

126.Over 110,000 marriage licenses are issued in Las Vegas each year. There are no blood tests and no waiting period required and the Marriage License Bureau is open from 8 am till Midnight Sunday through Thursday and 24 hours a day on Friday and Saturday! The most popular wedding days are New Year's Eve and St. Valentine's Day. Settings range from Casino/Hotel Wedding Chapels to helicopter ceremonies high above the Las Vegas "Strip", or for those in a hurry to start the honeymoon - there are even Drive-Up Wedding Chapels.

127.You have to break a lot of eggs to serve breakfast in Las Vegas. At Caesar's Palace alone, an average of 7,700 are prepared each day. With 2.8 million eggs delivered each year to that one resort. Caesars serves over 427 pounds of coffee each day and pours more than 3,000 ounces of orange juice every 24 hours.

128.The MGM Grand's 170,000-square-foot casino is larger than the playing field at Yankee Stadium. It contains more than 3,000 gaming machines.

129.It rains more often in London, England, on a Thursday than any other day of the week.

130.During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the U.S.

131.In the USA - more toilets flush at the half time of the Super Bowl than at any other time of the year.

132.Super Bowl Sunday is the most popular party day of the year — surpassing New Year's Eve. It is also the slowest weekend for weddings.

133.Super Bowl Monday sales of antacids increase by more than 20% over other Mondays.

134.Dominos Pizza sales typically double on Super Bowl Sunday.

135.Last year Americans ate more than 8.5 million pounds of tortilla chips on Super Bowl Sunday.

136.The Earth experiences 50,000 earthquakes a year.

137.A United Parcel Service delivery person typically makes up to 300 pickups or deliveries a day. That compares to someone doing 600 sets of step aerobics a day.

138.68% of Americans who view computer commercials on TV that advertise a processor, such as the Pentium III, believe it speeds up your Internet connections. However, a modem does that.

139.By 1995 8 million U.S. households had computers with CD-ROM drives, a 1600% increase over 1990.

140.The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15.

141.Most deaths in a hospital are between the times of 4pm and 6pm, the time when the human body is at its weakest.

142.In the US, the error rate for doctors prescribing the wrong medicine for their patient's ailment is 12%.

143.There are 10 doctors in the U.S. with the last name of 'Nurse'.

144.The standard escalator moves 120 feet per minute.

145.Nine out of 10 Americans tell pollsters they have NEVER had a professional massage.

146.During the heating months of winter, the relative humidity of the average American home is 13% nearly twice as dry as the Sahara Desert.

147.Pennies, plural, have value to most Americans. A penny, singular, does not. Almost half of Americans say they would not bother to bend over to pick up a penny on the street, but more than half of us report having stashes of pennies laying around the house.

148.Only 30% of us can flare our nostrils.

149.21% of us don't make our bed daily. 5% of us never do.

150.Men do 29% of laundry each week. Only 7% of women trust their husbands to do it correctly.

151.40% of women have hurled footwear at a man.

152.85% of men don't use the slit in their underwear.

153.67.5% of men wear briefs.

154.85% of women wear the wrong bra size.

155.3 out of 4 of us store our dollar bills in rigid order with singles leading up to higher denominations.

156.13% of us admit to occasionally doing our offspring's homework.

157.50% admit they regularly sneak food into movie theaters to avoid the high prices of snack foods.

158.90% believe in divine retribution.

159.10% believe in the 10 Commandments.(Only 10%?!)

160.82% believe in an afterlife.

161.45% believe in ghosts.

162.13% (mostly men) have spent a night in jail.

163.29% of us are virgins when we marry.

164.58.4% have called into work sick when we weren't.

165.Over 50% believe in spanking - but only a child over 2 years old.

166.40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

167.315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

168.On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

169.35% give to charity at least once a month.

170.69% eat the cake before the frosting.

171.When nobody else is around, 47% drink straight from the carton.

172.85% of us will eat Spam this year.

173.70% of us drink orange juice daily.

174.Snickers is the most popular candy.

175.22% of us skip lunch daily.

176.9% of us skip breakfast daily.

177.66% of us eat cereal regularly.

178.22% of all restaurant meals include French fries.

179.14% of us eat the watermelon seeds.

180.Only 13% brush our teeth from side to side.

181.45% use mouthwash every day.

182.

183.29% of us ignore RSVP.

184.71.6% of us eavesdrop.

185.Less than 10% are trilingual.

186.37% claim to know how to use all the features on their VCR.

187.53% prefer ATM machines over tellers.

188.56% of women do the bills in a marriage.

189.2 out of 3 of us wouldn't give up our spouse even for a night for a million bucks.

190.20% of us have played in a band at one time in our life.

191.40% of us have had music lessons.

192.44% reuse tinfoil.

193.57% save pretty gift paper to reuse.

194.66% of women and 59% of men have used a mix to cook and taken credit for doing it from scratch.

195.53% read their horoscopes regularly.

196.16% of us have forgotten our own wedding anniversary (mostly men).

197.59% of us say we're average-looking.

198.90% of us depend on alarm clocks to wake us.

199.53% of us would take advice from Ann Landers.

200.28% of us have skinny-dipped. 14% with the opposite sex.

201.51% of adults dress up for a Halloween festivity.

202.On average, we send 38 Christmas cards every year.

203.20% of women consider their parents to be their best friends.

204.2 out of 5 have married their first love.

205.The biggest cause of matrimonial fighting is money.

206.Only 4% asked the parents' approval for their bride's hand.

207.1 in 5 men proposed on his knees.

208.6% propose over the phone.

209.71% can drive a stick-shift car.

210.45% of us consistently follow the speed limit.

211.2/3 of us speed up at a yellow light.

212.1/3 of us don't wear seat belts.

213.22% leave the glob of toothpaste in the sink.

214.The typical shower is 101 degrees F.

215.Nearly 1/3 of US women color their hair.

216.9% of women and 8% of men have had cosmetic surgery.

217.53% of women will not leave the house without makeup on.

218.58% of women paint their nails regularly.

219.62% of us pop our zits.

220.33% of women lie about their weight.

221.10% of us claim to have seen a ghost.

222.57% have had deja vu.

223.49% believe in ESP.

224.4 out of 5 of us have suffered from hemorrhoids.

225.44% have broken a bone.

226.Only 30% of us know our cholesterol level.

227.14% have attended a self-help meeting.

228.15% regularly go to a shrink.

229.78% would rather die quickly than live in a retirement home.

230.Significantly more black women die from heart disease than any other group.

231.30% of us refuse to sit on a public toilet seat.

232.54.2% of us always wash our hands after using the toilet.

233.81.3% would tell an acquaintance to zip his pants.

234.It takes an average person fifteen to twenty minutes to walk once around the Pentagon.

235.The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years.

236.There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.

237.The average IQ is 100, while 140 is the beginning of genius IQ.

238.12% of men never use their car blinkers.

239.44% of men tailgate to speed up the person in front of them.

240.4 out of 5 sing in the car.

241.Every minute 47 Bibles are sold or distributed throughout the world.

242.In a century's time Islam had converted one-third of the world.

243.In the United States, deaf people have safer driving records than hearing people nationally.

244.One-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year. Ninety million people survive on less than $75 a year.

245.In the famous Parker Brothers game "Monopoly," the space on which a player has the greatest statistical chance of landing is Illinois Avenue. This is followed by the B&O Railroad, Free Parking, Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue and the Reading Railroad.

246.Burns are second only to traffic accidents as the cause of accidental loss of life in the U.S.: about 6,000 fatal burns a year.

247.The U.S produces 19% of the world's trash. The annual contribution includes 20 billion disposable diapers, 2 billion razors and 1.7 billion pens.

248.More than 63 million Star Trek books, in more than 15 languages, are in print; 13 were sold every minute in the U.S. in 1995.

249.New York City has the largest black population of any city in the United States. It is followed by Chicago and Philadelphia.

250.No one knows how many people live in the country of Bhutan. As of 1975, no census had ever been taken.

251.In the United States, five million teeth are knocked out annually.

252.Every year, over 8800 people injure themselves with a toothpick.

253.There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan.

254.On a bingo card of ninety numbers there are approximately 44 million ways to make B-I-N-G-O.

255.Researcherd don't know why, but people living in mountain states eat 30% more cookies than other people.

256.According to the Texas Department of Transportation, one person is killed annually painting stripes on the state's highways and roads.

257.In 1993 there were an estimated 64 million cats in the United States.

258.Half a billion people - about one of every eight - are suffering chronic malnutrition today.

259.People are marrying younger today than they did before the turn of the century. In the United States, in 1890, the average age of men at their first marriage was twenty-six years, compared with twenty-three today. For women, the corresponding figures are twenty-two then and just under twenty-one now.

260.Per capita, Canada has more doughnut shops than any other country.

261.In 1977, according to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, there were 14.5 telephone calls made for every 100 people in the entire world.

262.The photo most often requested from the U.S. National Archives is that of the meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon in 1970. Presley had requested that Nixon make him an honorary drug enforcement agent and Nixon accommodated him.

263.Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying.

264.Lost time in traffic could cost American businesses up to 100 billion dollars per year.

265.According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes.

266.The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15.

267.The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia.

268.Li is the family name for over 87 million People in China.

269.Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year.

270.The typical person swallows 295 during dinner.

271.The most common surname in Sweden is Johansson.

272.France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese.

273.The voltage of most car batteries is 12 volts.

274.The typical person goes to the bathroom 6 times a day.

275.The most common Spanish surname is Garcia.

276.In 1969, Iowa State College conducted a survey indicating that a parent's stress level at the time of conception is a major factor in determining the child's sex. The child is usually the same sex as the less stressed parent.

277.An eyebrow typically contains 550 hairs.

278.Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial.

279.Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.

280.The Japanese cremate 93 percent of their dead, as compared to Great Britain at 67 percent and the United States at just over 12 percent.

281.Nearly half of all psychiatrists have been attacked by one of their patients.

282.About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides.

283.About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them.

284.About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives.

285.According to a 1995 poll, 1 out of 10 people admitted that they will buy an outfit intending to wear it once and return it.

286.According to a poll, only 29 percent of married couples agree on most political issues.

287.According to a poll, 39% of the people interviewed admitted that they snoop in their host's medicine cabinets.

288.According to Scientfic American magazine: if you live in the northern hemisphere, odds are that every time you fill your lungs with air at least one molecule of that air once passed thru Socrates lungs.

289.Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying.

290.Ten percent of men are left-handed while only 8 percent of women are left-handed.

291.Textbook shortages are so severe in some U.S. public schools that 71 percent of teachers say they have purchased reading materials with their own money.

292.Retirement planning time: Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement.

293.A 1991 Gallup survey indicated that 49 percent of Americans didn't know that white bread is made from wheat.

294.The tail section of an airplane gives the bumpiest ride.

295.North America's most popular snack food is potato chips.

296.69% of men say that they would rather break up with a girl in private rather than in public.

297.In 1916, 55% of the cars in the world were Model T Fords.

298.About 1 out of every 70 people who pick their nose actually eat their boogers.

299.Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are 4 to 1.

300.For the 66% of American's who admit to reading in the bathroom, the preferred reading material is "Reader's Digest."

301.67.5% of men wear briefs instead of boxers.

302.57% of British school kids think Germany is the most boring country in Europe.

303.You are more likely to win the state lottery than to be attacked by a shark.

304.Statistically the safest age of life is 10 years old.

305.Automobiles take up about 24 percent of the total area of Los Angeles.

306.About 43% of convicted criminals in the U.S. are rearrested within a year of being released from prison.

307.There was a ratio of 35 women to one man in England mental asylums in 1971. However in England prisons, this ratio was the opposite.

308.Seven people have been struck by meteorite fragments.

309.Coffee is the second largest item on international commerce in the world.

310.People in Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world.

311.Odds that you'll be killed by a plane falling from the sky: one in 25 million. Odds that it will happen today: 1 in 7 trillion.

312.Boys who have unusual first names are more likely to have mental problems than boys with conventional names. Girls don't seem to have this problem.

313.Sweden has the least number of murders annually.

314.The 3 largest newspaper circulations are Russian.

315.Smoking accounts for at least 7% of all health care costs in the US.

316.The salt scattered on American highways each winter to keep cars from skidding on snow and ice represents 10 percent of the world's annual output of the mineral.

317.53% of high school grads and 27% of college grads "get most of their information from TV."

318.The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office.

319.Most shark attacks are not deadly. Less than 20 percent of those attacked are killed. Contrary to popular belief, sharks don't tear their prey to pieces. After the initial attack, they tend to circle around waiting for the victim to die from blood loss. This gives time for rescue. Before you start having shark nightmares, however, remember this: More Americans are killed each year from bee-attack than from shark-attack.

320.The only country to register zero births in 1983 was the Vatican City.

321.Seven billion gallons of water are flushed down toilets in the U.S. every day.

322.The average raindrop reaches a top speed of 22 miles per hour.

[Warph]

What Became of TV Channel 1?

Ever wonder why your television dial starts with Channel 2? In the early days of television broadcasting in the United States, there was a channel 1 And there were television stations operating on channel 1 and TV sets had a number 1 on the dial. Here are the details. (All frequencies are in MHz.)

In 1937, the channel assignments for television were set as 1 to 19.

In 1940, the FCC allocated 42-50 MHz for FM radio broadcasting. All the frequencies had to me moved again.

Between 1940 and 1948, following a number of redistribution of frequencies, the frequencies were finally redistributed amongst the channels. The FCC allocated 42-50 for FM radio. And the number of channels was reduced from 19 to 13.

In 1945, the FCC decided to move FM radio to the 88-106 MHz band (later 88-108 MHz). Because FM broadcasting would be vacating 42-50 MHz, TV channel 1 was moved down to that part of the spectrum.

After 1948 the FM frequencies were changed from 44-50 Mhz to 88-106 (later 108) Mhz. Channel 1 was then freed to be allocated for mobile land services. But the Channels were never renumbered and channel 1 disappeared.


In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile Services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not Pre-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.

[Warph]

.... that China has unveiled the worlds longest sea bridge, which stretches a massive 26.4 miles five miles further than the distance between Dover and Calais and longer than a marathon.  The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge was completed on December 27, 2010 and is 26.4 miles long - the equivalent of 174 Tower Bridges, links the main urban area of Qingdao city, East Chinas Shandong province, with Huangdao district, straddling the Jiaozhou Bay sea areas. 

The road bridge, which took four years and cost a cool 5.5 billion pounds to build, will be open for use in the New Year and is almost three miles longer than the previous record-holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. That structure features two bridges running side by side and is 23.87 miles (38.42km) long.

The three-way Qingdao Haiwan Bridge is a staggering 174 times longer than Londons Tower Bridge, over the Thames River and shaves 19 miles off the drive from Qingdao to Huangdao. Two separate groups of workers have been building the different ends of the structure since 2006. With an overall length of 42.58km, the route between Qingdao and Huangdao will be shortened by 30km, cutting the travel time by about 20 minutes.

[Warph]

......Bad Preditions > In 1894, the president of the Royal Society, William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, predicted that radio had no future. The first radio factory was opened five years later. Today, there are more than one billion radio sets in the world, tuned to more than 33 000 radio stations around the world. He also predicted that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible. The Wright Brother's first flight covered a distance equal to only half the length of the wingspan of a Boeing 747. He also said, "X-rays will prove to be a hoax."

In the 6th century BC Greek mathematician Pythagoras said that earth is round – but few agreed with him. Greek astronomer Aristarchos said in the 3rd century BC that earth revolves around the sun – but the idea was not accepted. In the 2nd century BC Greek astronomer Erastosthenes accurately measured the distance around the earth at about 40,000 km (24,860 miles) – but nobody believed him. In the 2nd century AD Greek astronomer Ptolemy stated that earth was the center of the universe – most people believed him for the next 1,400 years.

In the early 20th century a world market for only 4 million automobiles was predicted because "the world would run out of chauffeurs." Shortly after the end of World War II (1945), the whole of Volkswagen, factory and patents, was offered free to Henry Ford II. He dismissed the Volkswagen Beetle as a bad design. Today, more than 70 million motorcars are produced every year. The Beetle became one of the best-selling vehicles of all time.

The telephone was not widely appreciated for the first 15 years because people did not see a use for it. In fact, in the British parliament it was mentioned there was no need for telephones because "we have enough messengers here." Western Union believed that it could never replace the telegraph. In 1876, an internal memo read: "This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." Even Mark Twain, upon being invited by Alexander Graham Bell to invest $5 000 in the new invention, could not see a future in the telephone.

Irish scientist, Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793 – 1859) didn't believe that trains could contribute much in speedy transport. He wrote: "Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers ' would die of asphyxia' [suffocation]." Today, trains reach speeds of 500 km/h.

In 1927, H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, asked, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" In 1936, Radio Times editor Rex Lambert thought "Television won't matter in your lifetime or mine."

In 1943, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM forecast a world market for "maybe only five computers." Years before IBM launched the personal computer in 1981, Xerox had already successfully designed and used PCs internally... but decided to concentrate on the production of photocopiers. Even Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, said in 1977, "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

After the invention of the transistor in 1947, several US electronics companies rejected the idea of a portable radio. Apparently it was thought nobody would want to carry a radio around. When Bell put the transistor on the market in 1952 they had few takers apart from a small Japanese start-up called Sony. They introduced the transistor radio in 1954.

In 1894, A.A. Michelson, who with E.W. Morley seven years earlier experimentally demonstrated the constancy of the speed of light, said that the future of science would consist of "adding a few decimal places to the results already obtained."

In 1954, a concert manager fired Elvis Presley, saying, "You ought to go back to driving a truck." In 1962, Decca Records rejected the Beatles, "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."

In 1966, Time Magazine predicted, "By 2000, the machines will be producing so much that everyone in the U.S. will, in effect, be independently wealthy." In that year too CoCo Chanel said about miniskirts: "It's a bad joke that won't last. Not with winter coming."

Sometimes a few decimal places make a massive difference. Investment banks rely on computer models to direct trading activity; in August 2007, Goldman Sachs's hedge funds and other quant funds were left exposed by a series of market swings, each of which their software predicted would occur only once every 100,000 years. Goldman Sachs required a $3 billion (€1.9 billion) bailout, with other banks joining the hand-out queue.

Perhaps the guy who got it wrong most was the commissioner of the US Office of Patents: in 1899, Charles H. Duell, assured President McKinley that "everything that can be invented has been invented."


To prophesy is extremely difficult – especially with regard to the future – Chinese proverb

[Warph]

....that you cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. The tongue is a muscle with glands, sensory cells, and fatty tissue that helps to moisten food with saliva. You cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For instance, if salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to identify it. As soon as saliva is added, the salt dissolves and the taste sensation takes place.

There are 4 basic tastes plus umami. The salt and sweet taste buds are at the tip of the tongue, bitter at the base, and sour along the sides; in all, about 10,000 taste buds. Umami is sensed along the center part of the tongue.



The tongue is the strongest muscle in the body. On average length of a human tongue from the oropharynx to the tip is four inches (ten centimetres). But Stephen Taylor's tongue is even longer! He holds the Guinness World Record for the longest tongue: most people can stick their tongue out at an inch or two but Stephen's tongue, measured from the tip to the center of the closed top lip, measures 3.74 inches (9,5 cm).

The longest tongue of any living being belongs to a blue whale. The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant and weighs almost 3 tons.

[Judy Harder]

This really explains why after radiation and chemo why I lost my sense of taste (for some things) not everything.
To get the cancer they had to fry (sorry) the good parts, too.
I was left with very little saliva, and it has been interesting learning what tastes good and what doesn't.