todmsg=new Array();

// Add below your tips (Do not edit anything above this line !!!!)

todmsg[0]="There were 15,700,003 Model T Ford's manufactured, all in black."
todmsg[1]="The electric chair was invented by a dentist."
todmsg[2]="Thomas Edison held more than 1,300 U.S. and foreign patents."
todmsg[3]="The father of the pink flamingo (the plastic lawn ornament) was Don Featherstone of Massachusetts. Featherstone graduated from art school and went to work as a designer for Union Products, a Leominster, Massachusetts company that manufactured flat plastic lawn ornaments. He designed the pink flamingo in 1957 as a follow-up project to his plastic duck. Today, Featherstone is president and part owner of the company that sells an average of 250,000 to 500,000 plastic pink flamingos a year."
todmsg[4]="Thomas Edison, \"the Wizard of Menlo Park,\" established an \"invention factory,\" the first industrial research laboratory, with the hope of producing a new invention every ten days. In one 4-year period, he obtained 300 patents, or one every five days."
todmsg[5]="The film for the first Kodak camera was 2¾ inches wide, or 70 millimeters. Kodak has been manufacturing 70-millimeter film continuously since 1888."
todmsg[6]="The first \"braces\" were constructed by Pierre Fauchard in 1728. Fauchard's \"braces\" consisted of a flat strip of metal, which was connected to teeth by pieces of thread."
todmsg[7]="Thomas Edison’s first major invention was the quadruplex telegraph. Unlike other telegraphs at the time, it could send four messages at the same time over one wire."
todmsg[8]="Thomas Jefferson invented the dumbwaiter."
todmsg[9]="Though Frederick Banting and Charles Best were co-discovers of insulin, only Banting was officially recognized for the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1923.  He shared his winnings with Best, though."
todmsg[10]="Today, 40 percent of the world's newspapers are printed on paper made from Canada's forests."
todmsg[11]="U.S. Patent #D219,584 was issued in 1970 to veteran movie actor Steve McQueen.  He was famous not only for his movies but also for racing cars and working on engines off-camera as well. A byproduct of his racing hobby was the invention of a bucket seat."
todmsg[12]="Unknown people made the first glassware about 3,500 years ago in Mesopotamia."
todmsg[13]="Until recent years, people living in remote areas of Afghanistan and Ethiopia were immunized against smallpox by having dried powdered scabs from victims of the disease blown up their noses. This treatment was invented by a Chinese Buddhist nun in the eleventh century. It is the oldest known form of vaccination."
todmsg[14]="Until the mid 1800s, paper was made from cotton rags."
todmsg[15]="Vellum, a fine-quality writing parchment, is prepared from animal skin: lambs, kids, and very young calves. Coarser, tougher types are made from the skins of male goats, wolves, and older calves. Vellum replaced papyrus and was superseded by paper."
todmsg[16]="Vic Cedarstaff of Wickenburg, Arizona has been credited with the accidental invention of the bola tie. As the story goes, one day while riding his horse, Cedarstaff's hat blew off but the leather hatband slipped down around his neck. He left it on and a friend remarked that it looked nice. Soon thereafter, a replication of his original bola appeared on Arizona maps. The name comes from the bola, a device used by South American cowboys to rope cattle, because the rope device and the tie resemble each other."
todmsg[17]="After Marion Donovan was inundated by the wild success of her invention of waterproof diaper covers in 1946, she was surprised when her prototype for disposal paper diapers was met with disinterest and ridicule. She journeyed to all the major U.S. paper companies, and was laughed at for proposing such an \"unnecessary and impractical\" item to replace cotton diapers. After nearly ten years of pitching her revolutionary idea, Victor Mills had the foresight to capitalize on it, and he became the creator of Pampers."
todmsg[18]="Albert T. Marshall patented a household refrigerator on August 8, 1899."
todmsg[19]="Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an \"Improvement in Telegraphy\", on Valentine's Day, 1876."
todmsg[20]="Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was originally an instructor for deaf children and invented the telephone to help his deaf wife and mother to hear."
todmsg[21]="Alfred Nobel of Stockholm, Sweden, patented dynamite in 1867."
todmsg[22]="Although it took less than a decade of space travel for man to get to the moon, 19th- and 20th-century engineers needed 22 years to design the zipper."
todmsg[23]="American inventor Peter Carl Goldmark invented the long-playing (LP) record in 1948."
todmsg[24]="American sculptor Alexander Calder rigged the front door of his Paris apartment so that he could open it from his bathtub."
todmsg[25]="An angstrom is a unit of length equal to one ten\-millionth of a millimeter, primarily used to express electromagnetic wavelengths. It was named after Swedish astronomer and physicist Anders Jonas Ångstrom \(1814-1874\)."
todmsg[26]="An Englishman invented Scotland's national dress \– the kilt. It was developed from the philamore, a massive piece of tartan worn with a belt and draped over the shoulder, by English industrialist Thomas Rawlinson. Rawlinson ran a foundry at Lochaber, Scotland in the early 1700s, and thought a detachable garment would make life more comfortable for his workers."
todmsg[26]="Walter Hunt patented a bullet with its own explosive charge on August 10, 1848."
todmsg[27]="When airplanes were still a novel invention, seat belts for pilots were installed only after the consequence of their absence was observed to be fatal – several pilots fell to their deaths while flying upside down."
todmsg[28]="When commercial telephone service was introduced between New York and London in 1927, the first three minutes of a call cost $75.00."
todmsg[29]="When using the first pay telephone, a caller did not deposit coins in the machine. He or she gave them to an attendant who stood next to the telephone. Coin telephones did not appear until 1899."
todmsg[30]="Arch supports were invented by Konrad Birkenstock in 1897. He designed shoes that followed the shape of the foot so that comfort would increase. The basic design revolutionized the footwear industry."
todmsg[31]="Artist Xavier Roberts first designed his soon-to-be-famous Cabbage Patch dolls in 1977 to help pay his way through school. They had soft faces and were made by hand, as opposed to the hard-faced mass-market dolls, and were originally called \"Little People.\""
todmsg[32]="As an advertising gimmick, Carl Mayer, nephew of lunchmeat mogul Oscar Mayer, invented the company's \"Wienermobile.\" On July 18, 1936, the first Oscar Mayer \"Wienermobile\" rolled out of General Body Company's factory in Chicago. Wienermobiles still tour the United States today."
todmsg[33]="As of 1940, a total of 90 patents had been taken out on shaving mugs."
todmsg[34]="As World War I raged through Europe in 1917, Ed Cox of San Francisco invented a pre-soaped pad with which to clean pots. His wife named it S.O.S., which, as the story goes, stood for \"Save Our Saucepans.\""
todmsg[35]="At the outset of the Manhattan Project, Albert Einstein was one of the scientists who forecast that an A-bomb would have to be so large and heavy that it would require a ship to deliver it to its target."
todmsg[36]="At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Richard Blechyden, an Englishman, had a tea concession. On a very hot day, none of the fairgoers were interested in drinking hot tea. Blechyden served the tea cold – and invented iced tea."
todmsg[37]="At the turn of the century, most lightbulbs were handblown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day's pay for the average U.S. worker."
todmsg[38]="BAND-AID Brand Adhesive Bandages first appeared on the market in 1921. However, the little red string that is used to open the package was not added until 1940."
todmsg[39]="Barbie and Ken Dolls are named after Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler's son and daughter, Barbara and Ken. Barbie's full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts, and she is from Willows, Wisconsin. First sold in 1959, Barbie wasn't given bendable legs until 1965."
todmsg[40]="Bavarian immigrant Charles August Fey invented the first three-reel automatic payout slot machine, the Liberty Bell, in San Francisco in 1899."
todmsg[41]="Before bath tissue was introduced in the United States in perforated form in 1884, a number of outhouses in America were stocked with dried leaves."
todmsg[42]="Before the invention of mass-marketed hair care products, households were pretty much on their own concocting family shampoos and conditioners. This suggestion was published in <i>The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book</i> in 1847:  \"Perhaps the best of all shampoos is the yolk of an egg beaten up with a pint of soft warm water. Apply at once and rinse off with castille or other hard white soap.\""
todmsg[43]="Belgian driver Jenatzy was the first to reach a speed of over 100 km/h in his electrically powered car <i>La Jamais Contente</i> in 1899."
todmsg[44]="Boxing was the first sport to be filmed. Thomas A. Edison filmed a boxing match between Jack Cushing and Mike Leonard in 1894."
todmsg[45]="Britain built a fleet of steam submarines in 1915, dubbed the K-Boat, it proved to be a disaster and never went into action. It took 5 minutes at best to perform a crash dive, and once underwater it was unstable resulting in a a number of accidents."
todmsg[46]="Britain developed the first Tanks for use during World War I. The word \"Tank\" was used because it didn't mean anything, and didn't give the Germans a clue as to its possible use."
todmsg[47]="Camel's-hair brushes are not made of camel's hair. They were invented by a man named Mr. Camel."
todmsg[48]="Canned food was invented for the British Navy in 1813, but the first practical can opener wasn't invented until 1870."
todmsg[49]="Carbonated beverages became popular in 1832 after John Mathews invented an apparatus for charging water with carbon dioxide gas."
todmsg[50]="Charles Ginsberg is credited with inventing videotape in 1956."
todmsg[51]="Chester Greenwood from the United States was 15 years old in 1873 when he invented earmuffs."
todmsg[52]="Colgate was the first toothpaste sold in metal tubes rather than jars."
todmsg[53]="Compact discs, or CDs, were co-founded by a Japanese and a Dutch company in 1979."
todmsg[54]="Cornelius Swarthout patented the first waffle iron in Troy, New York, in 1869."
todmsg[55]="Credit for the invention of the parachute goes to Sebastien Lenormand in 1783. In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci designed a pyramid-shaped chute. J. P. Blanchard (1753-1809), a Frenchman, is said to have been the first to use a parachute. In 1785, he dropped a dog in a basket, to which a parachute was attached, from a balloon high in the air. Blanchard claimed to have descended from a balloon in a parachute in 1793."
todmsg[56]="Denver, Colorado lays claim to the invention of the cheeseburger. The trademark for the name \"cheeseburger\" was awarded in 1935 to Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In. Ballast claimed to have come up with the idea while testing hamburger toppings."
todmsg[57]="Designer Gabrielle \"Coco\" Chanel introduced her first perfume in 1921. She gave it the name \"Chanel No. 5.\" According to Chanel, she jumped straight to number five because it was her lucky number. To add luck to the fragrance, she introduced it on the fifth day of May, the fifth month. Chanel No. 5 became the world's best selling perfume."
todmsg[58]="Did you ever wonder what the \"WD\" in WD-40® stands for? Per the company, the product's full name is WD-40 Water <i>Displacer</i>, which was perfected on the fortieth attempt. (Some trivia sources erroneously state the WD is an abbreviation for Water <i>Displacement</i>)."
todmsg[59]="In the year 1886, Herman Hollerith had the idea of using punched cards to keep and transport information, a technology used up to the late 1970s. This device was originally constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. In 1896, the Tabulating Machine Company was founded by Hollerith. Twenty-eight years later in 1924, after several take-overs, the company became known as International Business Machines (IBM)."
todmsg[60]="Incan soldiers invented the process of freeze-drying food. The process was primitive but effective – potatoes would be left outside to freeze overnight, then thawed and stomped on to remove excess water."
todmsg[61]="Invented in the 1940s, an atomic clock is constant to within a few seconds every 100,000 years."
todmsg[62]="Inventor Gail Borden, Jr. invented condensed milk in the 1850s and later the popular Lazy Susan table aid, but he struck out with one other invention: the poorly-received \"meat biscuit.\""
todmsg[63]="Inventor Hugh Moore's paper cup factory was located next door to the Dixie Doll Company in the same downtown loft building. The word Dixie printed on the company's door reminded Moore of the story he had heard as a boy about \"dixies,\" the ten-dollar bank notes printed with the French word <i>dix</i> in big letters across the face of the bill by a New Orleans bank renowned for its strong currency in the early 1800s. The \"dixies,\" Moore decided, had the qualities he wanted people to associate with his paper cups, and with permission from his neighbor, he used the name for his cups: \"Dixie Cups.\""
todmsg[64]="Inventor Thomas Edison averaged six new patents a month during one four-year period."
todmsg[65]="It has been determined that less than one patented invention in a hundred makes any money for the inventor."
todmsg[66]="It is recorded that the Babylonians were making soap around 2800 B.C., and that it was known to the Phoenicians around 600 B.C. These early references to soap and soap making were for the use of soap in the cleaning of textile fibers such as wool and cotton in preparation for weaving into cloth."
todmsg[67]="It was Swiss chemist Jacques Edwin Brandenberger who invented cellophane, back in 1908."
todmsg[68]="It was while he was examining urine, seeking the philosopher's stone (the magic elixir needed to change base metals into gold), that German chemist Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus."
todmsg[69]="Donald F. Duncan, the man who made the yo-yo an American tradition, is also credited with popularizing the parking meter and introducing Good Humor \"ice cream on a stick.\""
todmsg[70]="Dr. John Gorrie of Appalachicola, Florida, invented mechanical refrigeration in 1851. He patented his device on May 6, 1851. There is a statue which honors this \"Father of Modern Day Air Conditioning\" in the Statuary Hall of the capitol building in Washington, D.C."
todmsg[71]="Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine for polio in 1952."
todmsg[72]="Dubble Bubble bubble gum was invented by an accountant named Walter Diemer in 1928."
todmsg[73]="Early hand-held lights used carbo-zinc batteries that did not last very long. To keep the light burning required that the user turn it on for a short time and then turn it off to allow the battery to recover. That's how they originally became known as a \"flashlight.\""
todmsg[74]="Early mattresses were filled with straw and held up with a rope stretched across the bed frame. If the rope was tight, sleep was comfortable. Hence the phrase, \"sleep tight.\""
todmsg[75]="Eastman Kodak's Brownie camera cost $1.00 when it was introduced in 1900."
todmsg[76]="Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles."
todmsg[77]="Electrical hearing aids were invented in 1901 by Miller R. Hutchinson."
todmsg[78]="Eli Whitney made no money from the cotton gin because he did not have a valid patent on it."
todmsg[79]="Ivory Soap was originally named P&G White Soap. In 1879, Harley Proctor found the new name during a reading in church of the 45th Psalm of the Bible: \"All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.\""
todmsg[80]="James J. Ritty, owner of a tavern in Dayton, Ohio, invented the cash register in 1879 to stop his patrons from pilfering house profits."
todmsg[81]="James Mason, no relation to the film actor, patented the coffee percolator in 1865."
todmsg[82]="James Ramsey invented a steam-driven motorboat in 1784. He ran it on the Potomac River, and the event was witnessed by George Washington."
todmsg[83]="Johann Behrent built the first piano in America at Philadelphia in 1775 under the name \"Piano Forte.\""
todmsg[84]="Johann Gutenburg invented the printing press in the 1450s, and the first book to ever be printed was the Bible. It was, however, in Latin rather than English."
todmsg[85]="John Greenwood invented the dental drill in 1790."
todmsg[86]="John Rand patented a collapsible tube for oil paints on September 11, 1841."
todmsg[87]="Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City invented toilet paper in 1857."
todmsg[88]="Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire on November 1, 1873."
todmsg[89]="Eli Whitney perfected the cotton gin in 1792. This simple device quickly removed the tiny seeds from cotton. Prior to the cotton gin, a slave produced one pound of lint in ten hours. The cotton gin increased the yield to nearly 1,000 pounds per day, which caused the cotton-producing U.S. states to increase their yield ten times over."
todmsg[90]="English philosopher and scientist Roger Bacon introduced a gunpowder formula to Europe in 1242."
todmsg[91]="European papermakers were the first to use watermarks. A watermark identified the manufacturer of the paper with the members of the trade organization. Just as trademarks were stamped into silver and fine firearms, a watermark quietly revealed that the paper was the creation of a skilled artisan."
todmsg[92]="Ferdinand Porsche, who later went on to build sports cars bearing his own name, designed the original 1936 Volkswagen."
todmsg[93]="Foam rubber is a flexible, porous substance made from a natural or synthetic latex, which is compounded with assorted ingredients and whipped into a froth. The finished product contains about 85 percent air and 15 percent rubber. It is also called sponge rubber or latex foam."
todmsg[94]="For a short time in 1967, the American Typers Association invented a new punctuation mark that was a combination of the question mark and an exclamation point called an “interrobang.” It was intended to be used to express incredulity or disbelief. It never caught on with the general public, and it faded away."
todmsg[95]="Four-wheel roller skates were invented by James L. Plimpton in 1863."
todmsg[96]="According to one source, Americans buy about 5 million things that are shaped like Mickey Mouse, or have a picture of Mickey Mouse on them, in the course of one day."
todmsg[97]="According to the folks at Disney there were 6,469,952 spots painted on the dogs in the original 101 Dalmatians."
todmsg[98]="Actor Jeremy Irons provides the voice of the narrator for Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida."
todmsg[99]="Animation artists love inside jokes. In the Disney film Beauty and the Beast (1991), the road signs that Belle’s father encounters in the forest show the names of two California cities: one points to Anaheim, while the other points down a dark, sinister-looking path to Valencia. In truth, Anaheim is the site of Disneyland, while the rival Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement theme park is in the city of Valencia."
todmsg[100]="As of December 30, 1997, Disney held eight of the top ten spots on the All Time Movie Video Sales Chart: The Lion King (1); Aladdin (2); Cinderella (3); Beauty and The Beast (4); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (5); Toy Story (7); 101 Dalmatians (8); and Pocahontas (10). The two non-Disney flicks to make the list were Forrest Gump (6) and Jurassic Park (9)."
todmsg[101]="At Disneyland in California, José the Macaw, the mechanical star of the Enchanted Tiki Room, originally sat near the entrance to Adventureland. He was so popular with visitors that he created a traffic jam and had to relocated to inside the attraction."
todmsg[102]="At Disneyland Paris, the park’s famous Sleeping Beauty Castle is known as Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant."
todmsg[103]="At the rate of about 40 painting hours per horse on the King Arthur's Carrousel at Disneyland, it takes several years to refurbish all of the horses. Then the cycle starts again."
todmsg[104]="The \"French\" marigold arrived in Europe with the Spanish conquistadors during the sixteenth century, who brought the delicate flower with them from its land of origin. It was from Mexico, not France."
todmsg[105]="In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained."
todmsg[106]="The African boabab tree can have a circumference as large as 100 feet. One such tree in Zimbabwe is so wide that the hollowed-out trunk serves as a shelter at a bus stop, with a capacity to hold as many as 40 people."
todmsg[107]="In England, vraic is a seaweed used for fuel and fertilizer. It is found in the Channel Islands."
todmsg[108]="In living memory, it was not until February 18, 1979 that snow fell on the Sahara. A half-hour storm in southern Algeria stopped traffic. But within a few hours, all the snow had melted."
todmsg[109]="In Los Angeles, discarded garments are being recycled as industrial rags and carpet underlay. Such recycling keeps clothing out of landfills, where it makes up 4 percent of the trash dumped each year."
todmsg[110]="There are more than 700 species of plants that grow in the United States that have been identified as dangerous if eaten. Among them are some that are commonly favored by gardeners: buttercups, daffodils, lily of the valley, sweet peas, oleander, azalea, bleeding heart, delphinium, and rhododendron. "
todmsg[111]=" There are only about fifty geyser fields known to exist on Earth and approximately two-thirds of those fifty are home to five or fewer active geysers. Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming has more geysers than any other field known in the world. The park has been the site of extensive study of the properties and characteristics of geysers."
todmsg[112]="In 1765, the sandwich was invented by John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who gave the food its name. The Earl used to order roast beef between pieces of toast for a snack while he was at the gaming tables, it allowed him to keep one hand free to play while he ate."
todmsg[113]="Caviar, or fish eggs, contain the same healthful omega-3 fatty acids as salmon."
todmsg[114]="In 1889, Aunt Jemima pancake flour, invented at St. Joseph, Missouri, was the first self-rising flour for pancakes and the first ready-mix food ever to be introduced commercially."
todmsg[115]="Celery has negative calories — it takes more calories to eat and digest a piece of celery than the celery has in it initially."
todmsg[116]="Cellophane noodles must typically be soaked before using, as must dried porcini mushrooms and most dried beans."
todmsg[117]="Centuries ago, men were told that the evil effects of coffee would make them sterile; women were cautioned to avoid caffeine unless they wanted to be barren."
todmsg[118]="Nutella is a hazelnut spread made with skim milk and cocoa. It is virtually unknown in America, but European children have happily smeared it on breakfast croissants for decades."
todmsg[119]="Of about 350 million cans of chicken noodle soup of all commercial brands sold annually in the United States, 60 percent is purchased during the cold and flu season. January is the top-selling month of the year."
todmsg[120]="The muskellunge, a fierce fighting fish that can weigh in at around 70 pounds, is the official state fish of Wisconsin."
todmsg[121]="The names of some cities in the United States are the names of other U.S. states. These include Nevada in Missouri, California Maryland, Louisiana in Missouri, Oregon in Wisconsin, Kansas in Oklahoma, Wyoming in Ohio, Michigan in North Dakota, Delaware in Arkansas, and Indiana in Pennsylvania."
todmsg[122]="The northernmost U.S. state capital is Juneau, Alaska."
todmsg[123]="The odd zigzag in the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, just south of Charlotte, resulted when boundary commissioners altered the line in 1772 to avoid splitting the Catawba Indians between the two British colonies."
todmsg[124]="\"Honolulu\" means \"sheltered harbor.\""
todmsg[125]="\"Q\" is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any state of the United States."
todmsg[126]="\"Utah\" is from the Navajo word meaning \"upper.\""
todmsg[127]="Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Manhattoe tribe for trinkets and cloth valued at 60 guilders. The price worked out to about $24."
todmsg[128]="In 1942, because of World War II, the United States government forced all Japanese Americans on the West Coast into camps."
todmsg[129]="Pharaohs ruled Egypt from 3110 B.C. until 332 B.C., when Egypt came under foreign rule."
todmsg[130]="In 1950, Scottish Nationalists stole the \"Stone of Destiny\" from Westminster Abbey. This was Scotland's Coronation Stone, taken by the English in 1296. By tradition, all British monarchs have to be crowned while sitting on it. It was eventually recovered from Arbroath Abbey, although some claimed this was a copy, and the original remained in Scotland. In 1996, the \"Stone of Destiny\" was returned from London to Edinburgh Castle, exactly 700 years after being stolen by Edward I."
todmsg[131]="In 1961, a year after the death of novelist Boris Pasternak, his friend and collaborator Olga Ivinskaya was arrested for allegedly receiving foreign royalties for Pasternak's published works. She was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and hard labor in Siberia, and her daughter received three years for alleged complicity."
todmsg[132]="In 1964, Ray Bellisario became the first British paparazzo, and was dubbed \"The Peeping Tom\" by the press. He sold photographs of Princess Margaret in a swimsuit to the Sunday Express, which published them. The British monarchy instructed editors not to buy Bellisario's photos, and they agreed."
todmsg[133]="The right arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times. It first crossed for display at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and in New York, where money was raised for the foundation and pedestal. It was returned to Paris in 1882 to be reunited with the rest of the statue, which was then shipped back to the United States."
todmsg[134]="The Roman emperor Commodus had all of the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks collected in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers."
todmsg[135]="The animal responsible for the most human deaths worldwide is the mosquito."
todmsg[136]="The animal with the largest brain in proportion to its size is the ant."
todmsg[137]="The are more different kinds of insects on existence today than the total of all kinds of other animals put together."
todmsg[138]="\"Formication\" is a hallucination that bugs or snakes are crawling on or under the skin, and is common to amphetamine and cocaine users. This hallucination is also referred to as \"crank bugs.\""
todmsg[139]="Bombyx mori, a silkworm moth, has been cultivated for so long that it can no longer exist without human care. Because it has been domesticated, it has lost the ability to fly."
todmsg[140]="Drosophila, the small fruit fly, has been warmly received by the scientific community, mainly owing to the giant-sized chromosomes possessed by the cells of its salivary glands. These chromosomes, which can stretch to more than a mile long when unraveled, allow scientists to study DNA using only a sheet of white paper and a bright table lamp."
todmsg[141]="A bee could travel 4 million miles (6.5 million km) at 7 mph (11 km/h) on the energy it would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of nectar."
todmsg[142]="The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that the prosecution must throw its files wide open to the defense if the accused is suffering from amnesia."
todmsg[143]="Jaguar images and costumes were outlawed by the Catholic church in the seventeenth century because of their association with Indian religion, militia, and politics."
todmsg[144]="The minimum age for marriage of Italian girls was raised by law to 12 years in 1892."
todmsg[145]="Japanese bowing carries different meanings at different angles"
todmsg[146]="A bow at an angle of five degrees means \"Good day\" (simple greeting).<br>A bow at a forty-five-degree angle is used to convey deep respect or an apology.<br>A bow at an angle of thirty degrees is a respectful bow to indicate appreciation for a kind gesture.<br>A bow at an angle of fifteen degrees is also a common salutation, a bit more formal it means \"Good morning.\""
todmsg[147]="Some Chicago firsts...<br><br>Ferris Wheel:George W.G. Ferris created a 264-foot \"bridge on an axle\" for the Columbian Exposition.<br><br>Skyscraper:William Le Baron Jenney designed the Home Assurance Building on LaSalle and Adams Streets around an iron-and-steel frame in 1884.<br><br>Lie Detector:Leonarde Keeler, an employee of the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory at Northwestern University, devised the Keeler Polygraph.<br><br>Zipper:Called the \"hookless fastener\" when exhibited at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the device would be dubbed \"zipper\" by the B.F. Goodrich Company, who used it on overshoes."
todmsg[148]="The New York Board of Education barred the whipping of children in its schools on March 4, 1908."
todmsg[149]="Japanese rules for the proper use of chopsticks are many. Improper use includes wandering the chopsticks over several foods without decision, and is called mayoibashi. The unforgivable act of licking the ends of chopsticks is called neburibashi. Lack of chopstick etiquette is strictly taboo."
todmsg[150]="King James VI and the Privy Council issued an edict in 1603 banning the use of the surname MacGregor."
todmsg[151]="The penalty for conviction of smuggling in Bangladesh is the death penalty."
todmsg[152]="There are 119 grooves on the edge of a quarter."
todmsg[153]="The Honours of Scotland are the Crown, the Sceptre, and the Sword of State. They are emblems of kingly power when Scotland was a separate kingdom"
todmsg[154]="Saturday mail delivery in Canada was eliminated by Canada Post on February 1, 1969."
todmsg[155]="In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes."
todmsg[156]="The Indian epic poem the \"Mahabhrata\" is eight times longer than \"The Iliad\" and \"The Odyssey\" combined."
todmsg[157]="Scarlett O' Hara, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind lead character, was originally given the name Pansy."
todmsg[158]="In trucking circles, a \"bumper sticker\" is a tailgater who is following another vehicle too closely."
todmsg[159]="Set in 175 acres of woodland in Yorkshire Dales, Britain's Lightwater Valley Theme Park has the longest roller coaster in the world, The Ultimate, as affirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records 2000."
todmsg[160]="In parts of Greece and Italy, people say \"no\" by tossing their heads back and clucking their tongues."
todmsg[161]="Helen Keller (1880-1968), blind and deaf from an early age, developed her sense of smell so finely that she could identify friends by their personal odors."
todmsg[162]="Emerson Moser, who was Crayola's senior crayon maker, revealed upon his retirement that he was blue-green colorblind and couldn't see all the colors. He molded more than 1.4 billion crayons in his 37-year career."
todmsg[163]="Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish genius who devised the naming system of living things, was a fervent believer in sea monsters, citing numerous reports of fishermen."
todmsg[164]="Helen of Troy was queen of Sparta."
todmsg[165]="Emily Dickinson wrote more than nine hundred poems, of which only four were published during her lifetime."
todmsg[166]="Carrie Donovan, former fashion editor who has written for \"The New York Times,\" \"Vogue,\" and \"Harper's Bazaar,\" was featured for the first time in April 1997 in Old Navy ads in \"The New York Times.\" She is the older blondish woman with the big round glasses, known in the New York fashion industry, but apparently not as well known elsewhere."
todmsg[167]="Emmett Kelly's classic tramp clown character \"Weary Willie\" provided comic relief in the Circus through the end of 1956. When Kelly left his circus career, he became the mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers."
todmsg[168]=" Without using precision instruments, Eratosthenes measured the radius of Earth in the third century B.C., and came within 1 percent of the value determined by today's technology."
todmsg[169]="The planet Venus does not tilt as it goes around the Sun, so consequently, it has no seasons. On Mars, however, the seasons are more exaggerated and last much longer than on Earth."
todmsg[170]="Scientists believe that hydrogen comprises approximately 90 to 99 percent of all matter in the universe."
todmsg[171]="The planet Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love."
todmsg[172]="Scientists have determined that most rocks on the surface of the Moon are between 3 and 4.6 billion years old."
todmsg[173]="The point in a lunar orbit that is farthest from the moon is called an \"apolune.\""
todmsg[174]="Selenologists study the Moon, as geologists study Earth."
todmsg[175]="Since Neptune's discovery in 1846, it has made about three-quarters of one revolution of the Sun."
todmsg[176]="Until 1937, the refereee in basketball had to throw a jump ball after every basket."
todmsg[177]="Until recently, a hockey goaltender never wore a mask. By 1959, Jacques Plante, an NHL All-Star goalie, had accumulated a hairline fracture and 200 stitches. Flying pucks had broken his jaw, both cheekbones, and his nose. Fibreglass Canada worked with Plante to develop the first-ever hockey goalie mask. While he was wearing the mask, his team, the Montreal Canadiens, won the Stanley cup for the third time."
todmsg[178]="Up to 20,000 pounds of pressure per square inch may be absorbed by a pole vaulter on the joints of his tubular thigh bones when he lands."
todmsg[179]="Using a graphite tennis racket reportedly helps prevent the onset of \"tennis elbow.\""
todmsg[180]="Hockey word play: The letters in the name Jaromir (as in Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins), when rearranged, spells Mario, Jr. (as in Mario Lemieux)."
todmsg[181]="P.O.T.U.S Sports: U.S. President George Washington's favorite sport was fox hunting; Abraham Lincoln's was wrestling; Franklin D. Roosevelt's was swimming; John F. Kennedy's athletic passion was sailing; Richard M. Nixon's was football; and Ronald Reagan's favorite sport was horseback riding."
todmsg[182]="A \"tirailleur\" is a sharpshooter."
todmsg[183]="A 27-inch-high silver America's Cup holds no liquid – it is bottomless."
todmsg[184]="It can take a deep-sea clam up to 100 years to reach 0.3 inches (8 millimeters) in length. The clam is among the slowest growing, yet longest living species on the planet."
todmsg[185]="Despite its reputation for being finicky, the average cat consumes about 127,750 calories a year, nearly 28 times its own weight in food and the same amount again in liquids. In case you were wondering, cats cannot survive on a vegetarian diet."
todmsg[186]="It is estimated that a single toad may catch and eat as many as 10,000 insects in the course of a summer."
todmsg[187]="Despite man's fear and hatred of the wolf, it has not ever been proved that a non-rabid wolf ever attacked a human."
todmsg[188]="It is estimated that manatees live a maximum of 50 to 60 years."
todmsg[189]="Developed in Egypt about 5,000 years ago, the greyhound breed was known before the ninth century in England, where it was bred by aristocrats to hunt such small game as hares. Today, the dog is widely used in racing."
todmsg[190]="It is the female lion who does more than 90 percent of the hunting, while the male is afraid to risk his life, or simply prefers to rest."
todmsg[191]="Dinosaurs lived on Earth for around 165 million years before they became extinct."
todmsg[192]="Box-office champ Toy Story (1995) is said to be filled with subtle inside jokes. One is in the name of the evil boy who lives next door to Andy and the toys. Sid Phillips, the wicked boy, was reportedly inspired by a former Pixar employee of the same last name who was known to disassemble toys and use the parts to build bizarre creations."
todmsg[193]=" Cowboy singer Rex Allen narrated more than 80 Walt Disney films. "
todmsg[194]="Discovering two photographs of a nude women among the film's more than 110,000 frames, Disney Studios recalled 3.4 million copies of the kiddie home video release of The Rescuers (1977), featuring the voices of Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor."
todmsg[195]="Disney World in Florida was opened to the public in 1971. The amusement park was the largest in the world, set within 28,000 acres. It required a $400-million investment, and did not do well during the first year it was opened. Only 10,000 people visited Disney World during that initial year. With time, however, the attendance numbers rose to more than 10,000 people an hour."
todmsg[196]="Disney World in Orlando, Florida, covers 30,500 acres (46 square miles), making it twice the size of the island of Manhattan, New York."
todmsg[197]="Disney's Mulan was the first feature length production created by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Florida, located at Disney/MGM Studios at Walt Disney World."
todmsg[198]="Disney's animated film Mulan did not do well in China. Many Chinese, especially the elderly, complained that the title character looked too Western."
todmsg[199]="Disney's Matterhorn was the first roller coaster to run on steel tubes, which made the ride smoother while allowing Disney to build longer-lasting coasters faster and cheaper."
todmsg[200]="There is about one quarter-pound of salt in every gallon of seawater."
todmsg[201]="The Agulhas current in the western Indian Ocean is the fastest ocean current in the world. Even so, its speed is only 6 miles per hour."
todmsg[202]="There is an organization in Berkeley, California, whose members gather monthly to discuss and honor the garlic plant. Called \"The Lovers of the Stinky Rose,\" this unusual organization holds and annual garlic festival and publishes a newsletter known as \"Garlic Time.\""
todmsg[203]="The air is so polluted in Cubato, Brazil, no birds or insects remain, most trees are blackened stumps, and its mayor reportedly refuses to live there."
todmsg[204]="There is so much moisture in the air that if it were all to condense and fall, there would be up to an additional three inches of water added to the earth's surface."
todmsg[205]="The American yew, a shrub commonly found around federal buildings in Washington, D.C., has the botanical name Taxus taxus(italicize)."
todmsg[206]="There's enough energy in ten minutes of one hurricane to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world."
todmsg[207]="The amount of lava produced when Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted in 1783, was, at 98 feet deep, enough to bury a four story, 66 foot home."
todmsg[208]="Of all cheese customs, one of the more unusual was that of the \"groaning cheese.\" Years ago in Europe, a prospective father would nibble on a huge chunk of cheese while awaiting the home birth of his child. Instead of pacing outside the bedroom door, the father would eat from the center of the cheese until a large hole had been gnawed out. Later, his newborn infant was ceremoniously passed through the hole."
todmsg[209]="In 1893, Milwaukee's Pabst beer won a blue ribbon at the Chicago Fair, and was sold thereafter as Pabst Blue Ribbon beer."
todmsg[210]="Of all the major brewing nations, England remains the only one in which ale is the primary beer consumed. This is in contrast to lager, which is the world's overall dominant beer style."
todmsg[211]="In 1918, Welch's developed its first jam product called \"Grapelade.\" The initial quantity of Grapelade was purchased in its entirety by the U.S. Army. It was an immediate hit in the military lower ranks, and became a demanded product by doughboys when they returned to civilian life."
todmsg[212]="Of all the potatoes grown in the United States, only 8 percent are used to make potato chips. Special varieties referred to as \"chipping potatoes\" are grown for this purpose."
todmsg[213]="In 1928, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy opened a small ice cream factory at 3315 Grand Avenue in Oakland, California. \"Grand\" has been part of the Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream company name ever since: as a memento of the company's birthplace on Grand Avenue and a declaration of the magnificence of their ice cream."
todmsg[214]="Official FDA guidelines allow whole pepper to be sold with up to 1 percent of the volume made up of rodent droppings."
todmsg[215]="In 1938, a comic strip was used to advertise Pepsi-cola. It was titled \"Pepsi and Pete.\""
todmsg[216]="A distillery was originally on the site of America's first mint, the Philadelphia mint, which opened in 1792."
todmsg[217]="A whirlpool below Niagara Falls iced over for the first time on record, on March 25, 1955.A huge ice jam in Lake Erie caused more than $6 million in property damages near Niagara Falls, New York."
todmsg[218]=" About 43 million years ago, the Pacific plate took a northwest turn, creating a bend where new upheavals initiated the Hawaiian Ridge.Major islands formed included Kauai, 5.1 million years old, Maui, 1.3 million years old, and Hawaii, a youngster at only 800,000 years old."
todmsg[219]="According to a Fortune magazine survey conducted a few years ago, Seattle topped the list of best major U.S. cities to balance work and family."
todmsg[220]="According to the New York Times, Mississippi’s most widely harvested product is catfish."
todmsg[221]=" According to the National Geographic Society, a survey of 18- to 24-year-olds from nine nations put the United States dead last in general geographic knowledge scores. One in seven – about 24 million people – could not find their own country on a world map. The survey revealed that Americans possess a pathetically poor sense of where they are – much less any knowledge about the rest of the world. And even more alarming, those who participated in the survey were recent high school and college graduates."
todmsg[222]="The official state cooking pot of Utah is the Dutch oven."
todmsg[223]="The official state musical instrument in South Dakota is the fiddle."
todmsg[224]="The Roman emperor Julius Caesar lost many ships when he invaded Britain he didn't beach them high enough because he hadn't taken tides into account."
todmsg[225]=" Philadelphia was second only to London as the largest English-speaking city in the world at the time of the War of Independence."
todmsg[226]="The Roman historian Pliny was so impressed by garlic and its perceived powers, he listed no less than 61 medicinal uses for the pungent bulb. Among them was that of warding off vampires, restoring hair loss, and preventing warts."
todmsg[227]="Philadelphia, York, Lancaster, Baltimore, Annapolis, Princeton, Trenton, and New York City were the cities serving as the seat of government for the fledgling United States of America before Washington, D.C., became the nation's permanent capital in December 1800."
todmsg[228]="The Romans were enamored with the smell of roses. According to historians, Nero had pipes installed under banquet plates to allow his guests to be spritzed with rose scent between dinner courses. "
todmsg[229]="Piercing nipples with rings and the like is not a new punk fad. It was popular among ladies in the late 1800s."
todmsg[230]="The sailor suit became a classic outfit for young boys from its introduction in the 1860s. By 1905, American parents clamored for sailor suits and blouses for their sons. Sears Roebuck advertised a popular boy’s sailor blouse suit, with the blouse \"trimmed with black tape and two rows of silk soutache,\" for $1.35 – about $32 in 1998 dollars."
todmsg[231]="Pocahontas and her husband John Rolfe had one son named Thomas who was born and educated in England, but settled in Virginia."
todmsg[232]="A tiny village in Quebec is named Saint-Valentin, reportedly because the first mass was held there on Valentine's Day in 1810. Today, the town named for the patron saint of lovers is a popular destination for letters sent by stamp collectors looking for unusual postmarks to add to their collection. Permission was granted by the Canada Post to let Saint-Valentin use a special heart-shaped postmark. In 1999, collectors throughout Quebec and other Canadian provinces sent more than 6,000 Valentine's Day cards to get the special stamp."
todmsg[233]="About 75,600,000 pumpkin pies are baked each winter holiday season in the United States."
todmsg[234]="About 99 percent of pumpkins marketed domestically are used as jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween."
todmsg[235]="According to a survey, the most popular day for eating out in the United States is one's own birthday — 49 percent of American adults do. The worst holiday for eating out is Grandparents' Day, with less than 5 percent participating."
todmsg[236]="According to the Data Group, grandparents spend an average of $82 per grandchild for a holiday gift, $42 for a birthday gift, $74 for a special occasion such as a graduation, and $19 for other occasions like Easter or Valentine's Day."
todmsg[237]=" Americans purchase an estimated 20 million pounds of candy corn for Halloween each year, and 93 percent of American children go trick-or-treating."
todmsg[238]="Americans spent about $6 billion on Halloween in 2000, making it the second-biggest holiday – after Christmas – in terms of dollars spent."
todmsg[239]="An AT&T survey estimated that 122.5 million phone calls to Mom are made on Mother's Day. Other Mother's Day findings revealed that 11 percent never call their mothers, and 3 percent of the 68 percent planning to ring Mom up called her collect. AT&T's query didn't include how many Mother's Day e-mails were sent to Mom."
todmsg[240]="The adjective \"metopic\" pertains to the forehead."
todmsg[241]="The skin of the armpits can harbor up to 516,000 bacteria per square inch, while drier areas, such as the forearm, have only about 13,000 bacteria per square inch."
todmsg[242]="The African bushman lives in a quiet, remote environment and has no measurable hearing loss at age 60."
todmsg[243]="The smooth muscles of the human body operate involuntarily and are located inside organs, such as the stomach and intestines."
todmsg[244]="The Alzheimer's Association estimates four million Americans have the disease and 100,000 die from it each year."
todmsg[245]="The soft mass of the adult brain is motionless. Though it consumes up to 25 percent of the blood's oxygen supply, it does not grow, divide, or contract."
todmsg[246]="A bee has five eyes, two large compound eyes on either side of its head, and three ocelli (primitive eyes) on top of its head to detect light intensity.The average adult eyeball weighs about one ounce."
todmsg[247]="A bumble bee flaps its wings 160 beats per second."
todmsg[248]="A cockroach's heart is nothing but a simple tube with valves. The tube can pump blood backwards and forwards in the insect. The heart can even stop moving, apparently without harming the roach."
todmsg[249]="A colony of white-footed ants varies in size from 400,000 to over 1 million individuals."
todmsg[250]="A common housefly is faster--in one sense--than a jet airplane. The fly moves 300 times its body length in one second, while the jet, at the speed of sound, travels 100 times its body length in one second."
todmsg[251]="A cricket an inch long has a chirp that is audible for nearly a mile."
todmsg[252]="The Asian grasshopper can jump up to 15 feet, a distance the length of 18 of their 10-inch bodies."
todmsg[253]="The average airspeed of the common housefly is 4.5 miles per hour. A housefly beats its wings about 20,000 times per minute."
todmsg[254]="The people of Hamamatsu, Japan, take part in a kite-fighting custom dating from the 1500s. It is believed that a kite was flown to honor the birth of an ancient prince. Another legend suggests the sport began when a ruler told his people to fight with kites instead of with one another. The annual custom honors the first-born sons of each family, and some of the enormous kites bear the names of the boys. Today, the kite-fighting festival draws nearly two million people to Hamamatsu."
todmsg[255]="The Royal Flag of Scotland, the Lion Rampant flag, should now legally only be used by the monarch in relation to her capacity as Queen in Scotland. However, it is widely used as a second national flag. However, it is not allowable to fly the flag without permission, on a flagpole or from a building. The Lord Lyon once threatened the town councilors of Cumbernauld with an Act passed in 1679 which demanded the death penalty for misuse of the royal flag."
todmsg[256]="The sale of chewing gum is outlawed in Singapore because it is a means of \"tainting an environment free of dirt.\""
todmsg[257]="The Soviet Union banned Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes because of the book's references to occultism and spiritualism."
todmsg[258]="The State of Nevada first legalized gambling in 1931. At that same time, the Hoover Dam was being built and the federal government did not want its workers (who earned 50 cents an hour) to be involved with such diversions, so they built the town of Boulder City to house the dam workers. To this day, Boulder City is the only city in Nevada where gambling is illegal. Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall and 660 feet thick at its base. Enough rock was excavated in its construction to build the Great Wall of China. Contrary to old wives' tales, no workers were buried in the dam's concrete."
todmsg[259]="The state of New York instituted the nation's first mandatory seat-belt law on July 12, 1984."
todmsg[260]="The taboo against whistling backstage comes from the pre-electricity era when a whistle was the signal for the curtains and the scenery to drop. An unexpected whistle could cause an unexpected scene change."
todmsg[261]="The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1832 requiring all American citizens to spend one day each year fasting and praying. For the most part, people ignored the law, and no effort was made to enforce the legislation."
todmsg[262]="Is half a Canadian $20 bill worth anything? - Learn More"
todmsg[263]="There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo."
todmsg[264]="There are 3 main groups/shapes of pathogenic bacteria: cocci (round), bacilli (rod-shaped), and spirilla (coil-like)."
todmsg[265]="The initials M.G. on the famous British-made automobile stand for \"Morris Garage.\""
todmsg[266]="There are 42 dots on a pair of dice."
todmsg[267]="The kerosene fungus can live in jet fuel tanks. If there is a minute amount of water in the tank, the fungus can use the fuel as food."
todmsg[268]="Should there be a crash, Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane as a precaution."
todmsg[269]="Catherine de Medici was the first woman in Europe to use tobacco. She took it in a mixture of snuff."
todmsg[270]="Catherine II of Russia kept her wigmaker in an iron cage in her bedroom for more than three years."
todmsg[271]="Mystery writer Agatha Christie’s full name was Agatha May Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan. She was born on September 14, 1890, in Devon England."
todmsg[272]="Napoleon Bonaparte loved white horses so much, he owned at least fifty."
todmsg[273]="JP Morgan, the American billionaire, bought the White Star Line in 1902, for his International Mercantile Marine Corp of New Jersey. The company took ten years to build the Titanic. Therefore, even though she had a British crew, Titanic was technically an American ship. Morgan was supposed to be on the ship for its first and only voyage, but had to cancel at the last minute. He even had his own suite built on the boat, a suite that went unused."
todmsg[274]="Napoleon Bonaparte was always depicted with his hand inside his jacket because he suffered from “chronic nervous itching” and often scratched his stomach sores until they bled."
todmsg[275]="Juan Metzger, a former Dannon Co. executive, is credited with putting fruit in yogurt. Metzger was recognized for suggesting the addition of fruit at the bottom of containers of the dairy product to improve its taste. The first flavor was strawberry. Metzger's father, Joe, co-founded Dannon Co. in the Bronx in 1942."
todmsg[276]="In Puerto Rico, wiggling one's nose means roughly \"What's going on?\""
todmsg[277]="The pressure at the center of the Earth is 27,000 tons per square inch. At the center of the giant planet Jupiter, the pressure is three times as great."
todmsg[278]="The pressure at the center of the Sun is about 700 million tons per square inch. It's enough to smash atoms, expose the inner nuclei, and allow them to smash into each other, interact, and produce the radiation that gives off light and warmth."
todmsg[279]="The Ptolemic Universe was based on the idea that the Earth was the center of the Universe. This incorrect conclusion was made by Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer, who eventually calculated the correct measurements of planetary movements."
todmsg[280]="The reflecting power of a planet or satellite, expressed as a ratio of reflected light to the total amount falling on the surface, is called the albedo."
todmsg[281]="The Sea of Tranquility is on the Moon. It’s not a real sea, but a \"maria,\" one of the regions on the Moon that appear dark when looking at it."
todmsg[282]="The seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus, is tipped on its side so that at any moment one pole is pointed at the Sun. The polar regions are warmer than the equator. At the poles, a day lasts for 42 Earth years, followed by an equally long night."
todmsg[283]="The size of the first footprint on the Moon was 13 by 6 inches, the dimensions of Neil Armstrong's boot when he took his historic walk on July 20, 1969."
todmsg[284]="The smallest planet in our solar system, Pluto, is a little smaller than Earth’s moon."
todmsg[285]="If you are classified as a POSSLQ by the Census Bureau, you are a \"Person of Opposite Sex, Sharing Living Quarters.\""
todmsg[286]="If you stacked one million $1 dollar bills, the pile of money would weigh 2,040.8 pounds. If you used $100 dollar bills, the stack would weigh only 20.4 pounds."
todmsg[287]=" With 382,650 babies being born each day and 144,902 people dying daily, the world population increases about 237,748 people a day. "
todmsg[288]="The most popular form of hair removal among women is shaving. According to the Gillette company, 70 percent of women who remove hair do so by shaving."
todmsg[289]="With 980-plus species, bats make up more than 23 percent of all known mammals by species."
todmsg[290]="The most popular topic of public speakers is motivation at 23 percent, followed by leadership at 17 percent."
todmsg[291]="Teenagers often have episodes of anger and negativity in which they slam doors and scream tirades. According to experts, most puberty-driven \"snit fits\" last an average of 15 minutes."
todmsg[292]="The state of Maine has 62 lighthouses. One of the most famous (and oldest) is Portland Head Light, which was commissioned by President George Washington."
todmsg[293]="The Statue of Liberty is 145 feet high and weighs 450,000 pounds, or 255 tons. The copper sheeting weighs 200,000 pounds. It was a gift from the French people to the American people as a symbol of friendship.<br><br>The Statue of Liberty's index finger is 8 feet long, and it displays a fingernail measuring 13 by 10 inches.<br><br>The Statue of Liberty measures 35 feet in diameter at the waist. The robe forms the outer shell of the statue, and there is no \"torso\" underneath.<br><br>The Statue of Liberty's mouth is 3 feet wide. There are 167 steps from the land level to the top of the pedestal, 168 steps inside the statue to the head, and 54 rungs on the ladder leading to the arm that holds the torch."
todmsg[294]="The Step Pyramid is the first known monumental structure made of stone anywhere in the world. The Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser (also spelled Zozer) was built during the Third Dynasty (2800 B.C.) in Saqqara, Egypt. Considered by many to be the first tomb in Egypt to be built entirely of stone, Djoser's Step Pyramid is a series of six levels of stone decreasing in size as they ascend to about 200 feet in height. A mastaba (Arabic for \"bench\") was a low rectangular structure which was built over a shaft which descended to the burial location. Until the Step Pyramid, mastabas had been the principal form of tomb architecture."
todmsg[295]="The stepped sides of the mammoth pyramids were once smooth and not climbable. They were originally covered with a casing of fine, dressed limestone. Over the eons, the casing stones were stripped off the pyramids and used for other building projects."
todmsg[296]="The Stratosphere Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, is 1,149 feet tall, making it the tallest building west of the Mississippi River."
todmsg[297]="A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber. A ball of solid steel will bounce higher than one made entirely of glass."
todmsg[298]="A bicycle headlight mostly allows others to see you. However, some of the brighter lights do aid nighttime vision. Most lights range in wattage from 2.4 to 20. Police-department bikes in the United States use a minimum of 15 watts."
todmsg[299]="A car operates at maximum economy, gas-wise, at speeds between 25 and 35 miles per hour."
todmsg[300]="A chest X-ray is comprised of 90,000 to 130,000 electron volts."
todmsg[301]="A chip of silicon a quarter-inch square has the capacity of the original 1949 ENIAC computer, which occupied a full city block."
todmsg[302]="A computer on a chip that today costs $10 is equal in performance to systems costing $100,000 three decades ago."
todmsg[303]="A device invented as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero, about the time of the birth of Christ, is used today as a rotating lawn sprinkler."
todmsg[304]="A floppy disk drive on a home computer usually doesn't need to be cleaned more than twice a year. If used too often, cleaning disks can scratch recording heads and throw the disk drive out of adjustment."
todmsg[305]="John Adams was the first president to live in the White House – then called the Executive Mansion."
todmsg[306]="Three U.S. presidents have been the sons of clergymen: Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Woodrow Wilson."
todmsg[307]="Three Whigs have served as president of the United States: William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore."
todmsg[308]="President William Howard Taft, weighing 325 pounds at the time, had a special bathtub installed at the White House which was big enough to hold four men."
todmsg[309]="To enforce integration, Dwight Eisenhower ordered the U.S. National Guard to escort students into the Little Rock High School in Little Rock, Arkansas."
todmsg[310]="President William McKinley always wore a red carnation in his lapel for good luck."
todmsg[311]="Two towns in Vermont claim to be President Chester A. Arthur's birthplace, but recent research supports his opponents' charges that he was born in Canada, and therefore, was not eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution. "
todmsg[312]="President William McKinley had a pet parrot that he named \"Washington Post.\""
todmsg[313]="In Cockney rhyming slang, the meaning of the phrase \"Would you Adam and Eve it?\" means \"Would you believe it?\""
todmsg[314]="In Elizabethan slang, the term \"to die\" meant to have an orgasm. This double entendre was often used by John Donne (The Prohibition, The Canonization), and by Shakespeare in King Lear."
todmsg[315]="The word zek is Russian prison slang for convict, derived from zaklyuchenny, the Russian word for prisoner."
todmsg[316]="The word cabbage comes from the Old North French word for \"head,\" caboche. That’s where the term \"head of cabbage\" comes from."
todmsg[317]="The pointed tool used by gardeners to make holes in the soil for seeds, bulbs, or young plants is called a dibble."
todmsg[318]="The word dinosaur means terrible lizard. This is a bit of a misnomer since they were only distantly related to lizard."
todmsg[319]="The popular phrase \"The blind leading the blind\" comes from the New Testament, Matthew 15:14."
todmsg[320]="The first child born on January 1, 2000, will have been conceived on or about April 1, 1999."
todmsg[321]="It may take longer than two days for a chick to break out of its shell."
todmsg[322]="Dinosaurs were among the most sophisticated animals that ever lived on Earth. They survived for nearly 150 million years 75 times longer than humans have now lived on Earth."
todmsg[323]="It seems to biologists that, unlike their humpback whale relatives whose underwater song evolves from year to year, killer whales retain individual dialects unchanged over long periods, possibly even for life."
todmsg[324]="Disk-winged bats of Latin America have adhesive disks on both wings and feet that enable them to live in unfurling banana leaves (or even walk up a window pane!)."
todmsg[325]="It takes 11 dump-truck loads of wood to make a proper funeral pyre for a full-size elephant."
todmsg[326]="It takes 24 hours for a tiny newborn swan to peck its way out of its shell."
todmsg[327]="Disney's Mickey Mouse was featured on cereal boxes for the Post cereal Toasties corn flakes back in 1935."
todmsg[328]="Donald Duck comics were nearly banned years ago in Finland because he didn't wear pants."
todmsg[329]="During WWI, young Walt Disney made money with another young man painting helmets with camouflage colors, banging them up to look battle-scarred, and then selling them to Americans in search of realistic souvenirs."
todmsg[330]="Every plant in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is edible. Plants in this section of the amusement park include bananas, strawberries, tomatoes, and more. Guest are more than welcome to pick their fill."
todmsg[331]="For the Disney film Aladdin (1992), Robin Williams agreed to work for \"scale,\" the Screen Actors Guild minimum of $485 per day, plus a painting by Pablo Picasso."
todmsg[332]="H.R. Haldeman and Ron Ziegler, who helped plan the Watergate burglary for President Nixon, both worked at Disneyland when they were younger."
todmsg[333]="Harrison Ford is listed as one of 50 people barred from entering Tibet – apparently, Disney Studios clashed with Chinese officials over the film Kundun (1997). Ford's wife, at the time, Melissa Mathison wrote the screenplay."
todmsg[334]="In 1918, Walt Disney was 16 and too young for the military. When he heard that the Red Cross Ambulance Corps would accept 17-year-olds, he lied about his age, joined, and began training. He nearly missed his chance when he came down with influenza during the epidemic that killed 20 million people worldwide. The war ended. But the Ambulance Corps still needed 50 more men, and Walt was the fiftieth selected. For the next year, Walt drove an ambulance, chauffeured officers, played poker, started smoking, and wrote letters."
todmsg[335]="Thirty gallons, or 135 litres, of water is used for the average shower in the United States."
todmsg[336]="The ancient Greeks believed ivy to be the sign of everlasting love."
todmsg[337]="Three hundred and fourteen acres of trees are used to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of the New York Times. There are nearly 63,000 trees in the 314 acres."
todmsg[338]="The angle between the main branched of a tree and its trunk remains constant in each species – and this same angle is found between the principal vein of the tree's leaves and all its subsidiary branching veins."
todmsg[339]="Throughout history, more ships have been sunk by hurricanes than by war."
todmsg[340]="The aurora borealis, the aurora of the earth's Northern Hemisphere, is also called the Northern Lights and aurora Polaris. The aurora australis, the aurora of the Southern Hemisphere, is also called the Southern Lights."
todmsg[341]="To grow properly, orchids require moving air. They do best where there is a steady breeze."
todmsg[342]="The average American uses eight times as much fuel energy as an average person anywhere else in the world."
todmsg[343]=" Often a child’s first solid food, one of every 11 boxes of cereal sold in the United States is Cheerios."
todmsg[344]="In 1948, it was common to see carhops serving those who wanted to order food from their car. Harry Snyder of Baldwin park, California had the idea of a drive-thru hamburger stand where customers could order through a two-way speaker box. Harry opened California's first drive-thru hamburger stand, named \"In-N-Out Burger\". Today In-N-Out remains privately owned and has 148 stores in 3 states."
todmsg[345]="Okonomiyaki is considered to be Japan's answer to pizza. It consists of a potpourri of grilled vegetables, noodles, and meat or seafood, placed between two pancake-like layers of fried batter."
todmsg[346]="In 1954, Trix breakfast cereal was introduced by General Mills. The new cereal, a huge hit with kids, was 46.6 percent sugar."
todmsg[347]="Olive oil is made only from green olives. Nearly the entire production of green olives grown in Italy is converted into olive oil."
todmsg[348]="In 1963, Kellogg's launched a new cereal, Froot Loops, and introduced cereal character Toucan Sam. The colorful toucan talked in Pig Latin (called \"Toucanese\") and wore a towering hat of fruit. While Sam still graces boxes of Froot Loops, he's gone through many changes since his debut, including dropping the Pig Latin and hat."
todmsg[349]="On food, writer Barbara Costikyan notes, \"In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot, and a mom.\""
todmsg[350]="In 1965, a collection of eight bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild was sold at auction of $2,200."
todmsg[351]="The Old Chinese Telephone Exchange in San Francisco was completed in 1909.Operators were required to be proficient in English and five Chinese dialects. They were also obliged to learn every phone number of every one of the company's 2,400 clients because the Chinese believed it was rude to refer to a person as a number."
todmsg[352]="The only active diamond mine in the United States is in Arkansas."
todmsg[353]="The Oregon Trail (1840-1860), the route used during the westward migrations of the United States, started in Missouri and ended in Oregon and was about 2,000 miles long."
todmsg[354]="The origin of the name of the city Elko in Nevada is unclear. One belief is that it was named by Charles Crocker of the Central Pacific Railroad. Crocker reportedly liked to name railhead towns after animals, so he added an \"o\" to \"Elk\" to ease the pronunciation, and thus named the new town Elko. Another theory is that it was derived from an Indian word for \"white woman.\""
todmsg[355]="The pecan tree became the official state tree of Texas in 1919."
todmsg[356]="The planner of the city of Washington, D.C. was French architect Pierre L'Enfant. In 1791, it was known as Federal City."
todmsg[357]="The roadrunner is the official bird of New Mexico."
todmsg[358]="The San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monuments."
todmsg[359]="The SALT agreement was passed while Richard Nixon was in the White House."
todmsg[360]="Poland was the dominant power in eastern Europe from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century."
todmsg[361]="Political satire was part of the \"Punch and Judy\" puppet shows of the seventeenth century in England. Additionally, a satirical British magazine called Punch was launched in 1841. It was named for the mischievous title character of the puppet show. For the most part, puppetry was not an entertainment vehicle for children until recent years; puppetry has been a political metaphor for centuries."
todmsg[362]="The saxophone, invented by the Belgian musical instrument maker Adolf Sax five years earlier, was officially introduced into the military bands of the French Army on July 30, 1845."
todmsg[363]="Pope Alexander III declared Henry II to be the rightful sovereign of Ireland in 1172. It took seven and a half centuries for the Irish to regain their freedom."
todmsg[364]="The Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee has been conducted by Scripps Howard Newspapers and other leading newspapers since 1939. It was instituted by the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal in 1925."
todmsg[365]="Potentially toxic mercury necklaces, popular among south Texas youths, were collected in 1996 under a state program following the death of a 5-year-old girl who was exposed to mercury vapors when her necklace broke as she played in a sandbox. Attached to a cord, the mercury-filled glass vials sold for about $2. Mercury can affect the brain, nervous system vision, hearing and memory, and long exposure is deadly."
todmsg[366]="An organization called SCROOGE was formed in 1979 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The acronym stands for the \"Society to Curtail Ridiculous, Outrageous and Ostentatious Gift Exchanges.\""
todmsg[367]="Annually on October 13, the ancient Romans celebrated the Fontinalia, a feast in honor of the blessing of good water, in which wells and fountains were garlanded and had sacrificial offerings made to them."
todmsg[368]="Approximately 165 million Easter cards are purchased each year in the United States."
todmsg[369]="Approximately 80 percent of Americans spend Independence Day — the Fourth of July  with their families."
todmsg[370]="Beginning after 1965, Inauguration Day, on January 20 of each fourth year, is a legal holiday for Federal U.S. employees and individuals employed by the government of the District of Columbia employed in the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia, and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church in Virginia."
todmsg[371]="Butler Jeeves of the Internet site Ask Jeeves.com made its debut as a large helium balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in 2000. Jeeves was the first Internet character balloon in the famous New York parade."
todmsg[372]="By the eighteenth century, the hot cross bun was traditional Good Friday eating throughout England. Until recently, it was available there only on Good Friday, but in America, the buns were sold throughout the Lenten season. The imprint of the cross on rolls and breads dates from pre-Christian cultures, when such imprinted breads were offered as sacrifices to different gods. Many cooks today make the cross with frosting instead of cutting it into the buns before baking."
todmsg[373]=" Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley commemorated St. Patrick's Day in 1965 by pouring 100 pounds of emerald green dye into the Chicago River."
todmsg[374]="The sound heard by a listener when holding a seashell to his ear does NOT come from the shell itself. It is the echo of the blood pulsing in the listener's own ear."
todmsg[375]="The average adult has between 40 and 50 billion fat cells."
todmsg[376]="The sound of a snore (up to 69 decibels) can be almost as loud as the noise of a pneumatic drill (70–90 decibels)."
todmsg[377]="The average adult stands 0.4 inch (1 cm) taller in the morning than in the evening, because the cartilage in the spine compresses during the day."
todmsg[378]="The Spanish flu, misnamed since it likely originated in the United States, was unlike most flu viruses, as it hit the young and healthy hardest. The pandemic killed 20 million to 40 million people in 1918. Comparatively, about 13 million died in the battles of World War I."
todmsg[379]="The average American adult male brushes his teeth 1.9 times a day."
todmsg[380]="The spine of the average human male measures 28 inches, and the average female's is 24 inches."
todmsg[381]="The average brain comprises 2 percent of a person's total body weight. Yet it requires 25 percent of all oxygen used by the body, as opposed to 12 percent used by the kidneys and 7 percent by the heart."
todmsg[382]="The average bee can travel up to 11 miles per hour."
todmsg[383]="The average house fly lives only two weeks."
todmsg[384]="The average life expectancy of a queen bee is 6 years, a worker bee, 6 months, and a drone, just 8 weeks."
todmsg[385]="The average spider can travel up to 1.17 miles per hour."
todmsg[386]="The biggest butterfly in the world is the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing. It lives in Papua New Guinea, and has a wingspan greater than 11 inches (28 centimeters)."
todmsg[387]="The biggest dragonflies are South American giant damselflies. Their wingspan is up to 7 inches (19 centimeters) and their bodies are 5 inches (12 centimeters) long."
todmsg[388]="The bite of a brown recluse spider can result in a wound so severe that it may require two months to heal."
todmsg[389]="The blood of a honeybee never clots."
todmsg[390]="The U.S. Congress passed laws in 1999 to discourage the practice of registering popular or trademarked Internet domain names for the sole purpose of resale or profit, although it is legal to do it with generic words or surnames."
todmsg[391]="Ichigensan okotowari is a custom developed in ryotei (restaurants which serve authentic traditional Japanese cuisine) in Kyoto. It means that you must be introduced by someone to be welcomed. The reason for this is it enables the restaurant to give its warmest hospitality and services to all its customers. Business cards are preferred to credit cards. Most establishments will only accept cash."
todmsg[392]="Time magazine reports that in Russia, buying carnations or roses is a prerequisite for a first date. They must be given in odd numbers, because flowers given in even numbers are reserved for funerals."
todmsg[393]="A 1989 law in Florida forbids the release of more than ten lighter-than-air balloons at a time. This is to protect marine creatures that often mistake balloons for food and can suffer intestinal injuries if they eat the balloons."
todmsg[394]="A 1993 Florida law levies fines against anyone caught intentionally littering with plastic fishing gear or lines."
todmsg[395]="A bride stands to the groom’s left at a wedding so that his sword hand would be free. Apparently Anglo-Saxon brides were often kidnapped before a wedding and brawls were common. That’s also why the best man stands with the groom; the tribe’s best warrior was there to help the groom defend the bride."
todmsg[396]="A charming wedding custom in early Yorkshire, England, involved a plate holding wedding cake. It was thrown out of the window as the bride returned to her parental home after the wedding. If the plate broke, she would enjoy a happy future with her husband. If the plate remained intact, her future was bleak."
todmsg[397]="A couple living together for two years in Russia is considered married. This is called a citizen marriage."
todmsg[398]="Napoleon favored mathematicians and physical scientists, but excluded humanists from his circle, believing them to be troublemakers."
todmsg[399]="Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Dostoyevsky were all epileptics."
todmsg[400]="In Sweden, it is a breech of etiquette for you to toast your host or anyone who is your senior in rank or age until after they toast you."
todmsg[401]="Napoleon had conquered Italy by the time he was 26 years old."
todmsg[402]="Just preceding his death, King Henry VIII was suffering from painful and festering, reeking leg ulcers that had to be dressed several times a day. Historians speculate that he was syphilitic. From the condition of chronic dropsy, now called edema, Henry's legs were enormous and he weighed more than 400 pounds."
todmsg[403]="In Thailand and India, couples overwhelmingly responded in a survey that if they could choose the gender of their unborn child, they would prefer a boy. "
todmsg[404]="Henry Cavendish, one of the great scientists of the 1700s, was painfully shy and could barely speak to one person – never to two. He was so timid in the presence of women that he communicated with his female servants by notes only. If one crossed his path in his house, she was fired on the spot. He built a separate entrance to the house so that he could come and go without meeting anyone. In the end, he insisted on dying alone."
todmsg[405]="The smallest visible sunspots have an area of 500 million square miles, about fifty times the size of Africa. The largest sunspots have an area of about 7,000 million square miles."
todmsg[406]="The solar wind the continuous stream of charged particles from the sun--flows past Earth at 1,200 times the speed of sound."
todmsg[407]="\"Ufology\" is the study of UFOs, especially those thought to be from outer space."
todmsg[408]="Moon Facts:<br><br>Soviet Luna 2 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the Moon in 1959.<br><br>Soviet Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the Moon in 1966.<br><br>July 20, 1969, U.S. Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the Moon.<br><br>December 1972, U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan becomes the last person to set foot on the Moon."
todmsg[409]="Mariner 4 was the first spacecraft to photograph Mars."
todmsg[410]="A brown dwarf is a very small, dark object, with a mass less than 1/10 that of the Sun. They are \"failed stars\" – globules of gas that have shrunk under gravity, but failed to ignite and shine as stars."
todmsg[411]="A bucket filled with earth would weigh about 5 times more than the same bucket filled with the substance of the Sun. However, the force of gravity is so much greater on the Sun that a man weighing 150 pounds on our planet would weigh 2 tons on the Sun."
todmsg[412]="A car traveling at a constant speed of 60 miles per hour would take longer than 48 million years to reach the nearest star (other than our Sun), Proxima Centauri. This is about 685,000 average human lifetimes."
todmsg[413]="With more than 105 million pounds in 1997, Georgia is the world’s top pecan producer; Texas came in second with 90 million pounds."
todmsg[414]="The National Sporting Goods Association says one-fourth of all athletic products are purchased during November and December, the holiday shopping period."
todmsg[415]="Ten books on a shelf can be arranged in 3,628,800 different ways."
todmsg[416]="More than 60 percent of all recipients of organ donations are between the ages of 18 and 49."
todmsg[417]="Your birthday is not a special day after all you share it with no fewer than nine million others."
todmsg[418]="The Netherlands is credited with having the most bikes in the world. One bike per person is the national average with an estimated 16 million bicycles nation wide."
todmsg[419]="Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying."
todmsg[420]="More than 63 million Star Trek books, in more than 15 languages, are in print; 13 were sold every minute in the United States in 1995."
todmsg[421]="The swimming pool at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida is the largest in the continental United States. It covers a half acre and holds 600,000 gallons of water."
todmsg[422]="\"International Orange\" is the official name of the orange-red paint used to paint the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and it has always been that color. Rejecting carbon black and steel gray, the color was chosen because it blended well with the span's natural setting. Had the U.S. Navy's color request been granted, the bridge would have been painted black with yellow stripes. Painting the bridge is an ongoing task and its primary maintenance job. The special paint protects the Golden Gate from the high salt content in the ocean air, which rusts and corrodes the steel components."
todmsg[423]="Gothic was originally a term of criticism among the Italian Renaissance artists who coined it. The term implied that, compared to superior classical buildings, the Gothic medieval cathedrals were so crude that only a Goth could produce them. By indirectly condemning the Goths, the Italian architects revived an old hatred. The southward migration of these warring, loathsome German barbarians in the fifth century A.D. had contributed to the decline of ancient Rome."
todmsg[424]="A $67-million, concrete multipurpose stadium, the Kingdome's seating was designed for football and opened with a soccer match on April 9, 1976. The name \"Kingdome\" is derived from the stadium's location in King County, Washington, and it was the home of the Seattle Mariners and the Seattle Seahawks. Visiting sportswriters referred to the stadium as \"the Tomb\" because it was gray and quiet. The Kingdome was demolished on March 26, 2000."
todmsg[425]="A building in which silence is enforced, like a library or school room, is referred to as a \"silentium.\""
todmsg[426]="A huge 52-foot-high (16-meter), fiberglass pineapple icon greets visitors outside The Big Pineapple, a huge pineapple plantation and tourist attraction at Queensland, Australia."
todmsg[427]="A man-made fountain opposite the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is the world's highest geyser, at 600 feet. The geyser's is powered by three 800 hp pumps and discharges water at up to 200 feet per second. The geyser can keep 1,100 gallons of water, weighing 9,200 pounds, in the air when in operation."
todmsg[428]="A monorail subway joins the House and Senate wings of the U.S. Capitol Building with the Congressional office buildings."
todmsg[429]="A four-engine jet can land safely on just one engine."
todmsg[430]="A frog is a device at the intersection of two railroad tracks to permit the wheels and flanges on one track to cross or branch for the other."
todmsg[431]="A machine has been invented that can read printed English books aloud to the blind, and it can do so at speed half again as fast as normal speech."
todmsg[432]="A mangonel was a piece of military equipment used to launch stones."
todmsg[433]="A new permanent display is available for viewing at National Air and Science Museum at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.: the gondola from the Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to fly around the world nonstop. After 19 days, 21 hours, and 47 minutes in the air, the Breitling Orbiter 3 and crew – Switzerland’s Bertrand Piccard and Britain's Brian Jones – landed on March 21, 1999, marking the first successful nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon. The gondola is 20 feet long and 8 feet high, while the balloon itself is the same height as the Leaning Tower of Pisa."
todmsg[434]="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."
todmsg[435]="A nylon fiber is stronger than a steel wire of identical weight."
todmsg[436]="A standard 747-200 Jumbo Jet has 420 seats."
todmsg[437]="U.S. President Bill Clinton is allergic to dust, mold, pollen, cats, Christmas trees, and dairy products."
todmsg[438]="President William Taft kept a cow on the White House lawn to supply him with fresh milk. He was the last president to do so."
todmsg[439]="U.S. President George Washington, was the first person to breed roses in the U.S.. Washington laid out his own garden at Mt. Vernon and filled it with his own selections of roses. He named one of his varieties after his mother and it is still being grown today."
todmsg[440]="President Woodrow Wilson, known as \"Tommy Wilson\" to his classmates at Davidson College in North Carolina, was fined 20 cents in 1873 for \"improper conduct in the hall\"."
todmsg[441]="Ulysses S. Grant apologized upon leaving the White House for errors of judgment, not for errors of intent. He was known for being personally honest but surrounded by dishonest people."
todmsg[442]="Ulysses S. Grant was once fined $20 for speeding on his horse."
todmsg[443]="The word electricity comes from the Greek word ELECTRON, for amber. The bases of the modern concepts of electricity can be traced to the Greeks, who discovered the fact that certain rocks - lodestone or magnetite - attracted each other."
todmsg[444]="The pretzel is named from the Latin word brachiatus, meaning \"having branch-like arms.\""
todmsg[445]="The first children's book that was published in the United States was called Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in wither England Drawn from the Breast of Both Testaments for Their Soul's Nourishment."
todmsg[446]="Shakespeare spelled his own name several different ways."
todmsg[447]="The word encyclopedia is derived from the Greek enkuklios paideia, meaning \"general education.\""
todmsg[448]="The robbery phrase \"Hands Up\" originated in British Columbia. Bill Miner, an American known as the Gentleman Bandit, is said to have first used the phrase while robbing a Canadian Pacific Railways train in Mission Junction, British Columbia in 1904."
todmsg[449]="The first college on record to use the word \"campus\" to describe its grounds was Princeton. \"Campus\" is Latin for \"field.\""
todmsg[450]="Shakespeare was the first to use certain words that are now common, including \"hurry,\" \"bump,\" \"eyeball,\" and \"anchovy.\""
todmsg[451]=" Dogs are mentioned fourteen times in the Bible."
todmsg[452]="A newly hatched crocodile is three times as large as the egg from which it has emerged."
todmsg[453]="A \"winkle\" is an edible sea snail."
todmsg[454]="A 42-foot sperm whale has about 7 tons of oil in it."
todmsg[455]="A 4-inch-long abalone can grip a rock with a force of 400 pounds. Two grown men are incapable of prying it up."
todmsg[456]="A baby baleen whale depends on a mother's milk diet for at least six months."
todmsg[457]="A baby bat is called a pup."
todmsg[458]="In 1938, Walt Disney received a special honor for his film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Disney was given an Oscar and seven miniature statuettes to commend his film."
todmsg[459]="In 1940, Walt Disney's Fantasia was the first film in history to use stereophonic sound. Ever the perfectionist, Disney personally paid for equipping the New York and Los Angeles Cathay theaters with stereo speakers for his pet film's world premiere. Unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office."
todmsg[460]="In 1994, the Tokens charged back into the spotlight with their song \"The Lion Sleeps Tonight,\" more than 30 years after it initially became a hit. Based on a Zulu folk song, the bouncy tune was Number 1 on the pop charts for three weeks in October 1961. It turned up again in 1972, recorded by Robert John. It was featured in Disney's box office hit The Lion King, and although the song wasn't on Lion King's soundtrack record, RCA re-released the single in response to renewed interest by the public."
todmsg[461]="In March 2000, the Disney company reversed its 43-year ban on mustaches for its theme-park employees. A memo sent to the 12,000 Disneyland and Walt Disney World employees said guests would be comfortable with \"neatly trimmed mustaches.\" Founding father Walt Disney sported his own mustache, but that didn't stop him in 1957 from banning facial hair. He did this to distance his crew from stereotypical county-fair \"carnies.\" The grooming code at the theme parks still bans beards, goatees, piercings, and unnatural hair colors."
todmsg[462]="In the scrolling final credits of Disney's Fantasia, the sorcerer's name is listed as \"Yensid\" – Disney spelt backwards."
todmsg[463]="Michael Jackson starred in Captain Eo, a short, 3-D space adventure-musical that began showing at Disneyland and Disney World in 1986 and ran for about ten years."
todmsg[464]="No one can say just when Walt Disney began thinking about undertaking his biggest project to date, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but by the summer of 1934, his ideas were beginning to take concrete form. An exploratory outline that he distributed to his animation staff, dated August 9, 1934, included the following discussion of the dwarfs' names: \"The names which follow each suggest a type of character and the names will immediately identify the character in the minds of the audience.\" Some of the names that were considered, then discarded, included Scrappy, Doleful, Crabby, Wistful, Dumpy, Soulful, Tearful, Snappy, Helpful, Gaspy, Gloomy, Busy, Dirty, Awful, Dizzy, Shifty, and Biggy-Wiggy."
todmsg[465]="Paul Frees, the talented man behind the voices of Cap'n Crunch, Ludwig von Drake, Boris Badenov (Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky), the Pillsbury Doughboy, and countless characters in animation shorts, saved an episode of Alias Smith and Jones, a popular 1970s TV show. Inexplicably, handsome co-star Pete Duel committed suicide on New Year's Eve, 1971. Desperate TV executives brought in Frees to reproduce Duel's voice to salvage an uncompleted episode. Frees was called upon often to \"re-loop\" other actors' dialogue, often to correct foreign accents or poor line readings. He performed both the speaking voices of John Lennon and George Harrison in the 1960s Saturday morning animated series, The Beatles, and also lent his voice to recordings used on several rides at California's Disneyland: the Haunted Mansion, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and Adventure through Inner Space."
todmsg[466]="The average computer chip plant produces 4 million gallons of wastewater and thousands of gallons of corrosive hazardous materials a day, such as hydrochloric and sulfuric acid."
todmsg[467]="The average daily growth of a bamboo plant is 35.4 inches."
todmsg[468]="On November 12, 1970, the deadliest tornado of the twentieth century swept through Bangladesh. Afterwards, 200,000 people were dead and 100,000 people were missing. The country was hit by the second deadliest tornado in 1991, when 131,000 people were killed. Two more cyclones were suffered in 1963 (22,000 dead) and 1965 (47,000 dead)."
todmsg[469]="The five deadliest hurricanes of the 20th century were Hurricane Mitch in 1998 where 11,000 people were killed; 1900’s hurricane in Glaveston, Texas where 8,000 were killed; Hurricane Fifi in 1974 where 8,000 were killed; 1930’s hurricane in the Dominican Republic where 8,000 were killed; and Hurricane Flora in 1963 where 7,200 people were killed."
todmsg[470]="A \"fulgerite\" is fossilized lightning. It forms when a powerful lightning bolt melts the soil into a glass-like state."
todmsg[471]="A \"pogonip\" is a heavy winter fog containing ice crystals."
todmsg[472]="A 120-foot oak tree grows from a three-quarter-inch-long acorn."
todmsg[473]="A beautiful mirage called the Fata Morgana appears in the Straits of Messina, between Sicily and Italy. It is an image of a town in the sky, but it seems more like a fairy landscape than a real town. It is believed to be a mirage of a fishing village situated along the coast."
todmsg[474]="In 1976, the first eight Jelly Belly® flavors were launched: Orange, Green Apple, Root Beer, Very Cherry, Lemon, Cream Soda, Grape, and Licorice."
todmsg[475]="In 1984, Britons ate 41 pounds of beef per person per year, according to the Meat & Livestock Commission. By 1994, the figure dropped to 35 pounds. In March 1996, \"Mad Cow Disease\" in Britain lowered the consumption figure even more, although many Britons continued to eat roast beef despite the food scare."
todmsg[476]="\"Big cheese\" and \"big wheel\" are Medieval terms of envious respect for those who could afford to buy whole wheels of cheese at a time, an expense few could enjoy. Both these terms are often used sarcastically today."
todmsg[477]="\"Colonial goose\" is the name Australians give to stuffed mutton."
todmsg[478]="\"Court bouillon\" is a broth made by cooking various vegetables and herbs, traditionally used for poaching fish, seafood, or vegetables."
todmsg[479]="\"Destroying angel,\" one of several poisonous Amanita mushrooms that grows wild in forests and fields, has an innocent appearance. It is, however, highly lethal. Even a small bite of this beautiful white mushroom can cause, hours later, violent stomach-ache, a breakdown of blood cells, and finally death."
todmsg[480]="\"Grunt\" and \"slump\" are two names that refer to a fruit dessert with a biscuit topping."
todmsg[481]="\"Sherbet\” is Australian slang for beer."
todmsg[482]="The second national city is Port Angeles, Washington, designated by President Abraham Lincoln. That's where they would move the capital if something happened to Washington, D.C."
todmsg[483]="The smallest U.S. state in area, west of the Mississippi River, is Hawaii."
todmsg[484]="The southeast of Alaska is home to the Saxman Native Totem Park. There are more Indian totem poles in the park than at any other location in the world."
todmsg[485]="The state flower of Massachusetts is the mayflower."
todmsg[486]="The state motto of Washington is Alki, Chinook Indian for \"By and By.\""
todmsg[487]="The state of Louisiana has two official state songs: \"Give Me Louisiana\" and \"You Are My Sunshine.\""
todmsg[488]="The state of Maine has at least 28 cities or towns that begin with the word \"North,\" 23 with the word \"South,\" 22 with \"West,\" and 28 with \"East.\""
todmsg[489]="The state of Maine was once known as the \"Earmuff Capital of The World.\" Earmuffs were invented there by Chester Greenwood in 1873."
todmsg[490]="President Andrew Johnson offered a reward of $100,000 for the capture of Jefferson Davis on May 2, 1865. That was the equivalent of $1,075,269 in 2001 dollars."
todmsg[491]="Priests in ancient Egyptian temples plucked every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes."
todmsg[492]="\"Soldiers disease\" is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts. "
todmsg[493]="\"Feeding at the public trough,\" the term referring to the practice of politicians and their hangers-on of fattening themselves on public funds, has Biblical roots. It recalls how the Prodigal Son, at his lowest, ate from a trough with the swine."
todmsg[494]="\"Flower\" names were very popular during the late nineteenth century in America and England. Among the favorites were Rose, Blossom, Daisy, Iris, Pansy, Fern, Poppy, Viola, Violet, and Zinnia."
todmsg[495]="\"Taps\" began as the \"lights out\ song played at the end of each day in the military. Nearby Northern and Southern camps during the Civil War put three-shot salutes in danger of starting battles, so \"Taps\" became the funeral song."
todmsg[496]=" \"Tar Heel,\" North Carolina’s nickname, came about in 1863 during the U.S. Civil War to describe the North Carolina soldier."
todmsg[497]="Early cheesecake: A pin-up photo of actress Rita Hayworth adorned the first test bomb dropped on Bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands in July 1946."
todmsg[498]="Christmas Day in the Ukraine can be celebrated on either December 25, in faithful alliance with the Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar, or on January 7, which is the Orthodox or Eastern Rite (Julian calendar), the church holy day."
todmsg[499]="December 8 is a significant date for Roman Catholics. As a holy day of obligation, the Catholic is required by the first Precept of the Church to attend Mass. The days of obligation are set forth in the Vatican's Catechism in paragraph 2177."
todmsg[500]="Decorating and coloring eggs for Easter was the custom in England during the Middle Ages. In 1290, the household accounts of Edward I recorded an expenditure of eighteen pence for 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and colored for Easter gifts."
todmsg[501]="During Louis XIV's reign, the king was entitled to the largest egg laid during the week preceding Easter Sunday. On Easter, colored eggs painted with gold leaf were blessed. The king would then distribute the eggs to his courtesans and attendants."
todmsg[502]="During the 1966 telecast of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Ronald McDonald, the fast-food chain's new mascot, made his first-ever national television appearance. A hot air balloon of Ronald appeared in the 1987 parade."
todmsg[503]="During the late 1800s, postage rates around the world dropped, and the obscene St. Valentine's Day card became popular, despite the Victorian era being otherwise very prudish. As the numbers of racy valentines grew, several countries banned the practice of exchanging Valentine's Days cards. During this period, Chicago's post office rejected more than 25,000 cards on the grounds that they were so indecent, they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail."
todmsg[504]="During the Middle Ages, the belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day led to the idea that boys and girls would do the same. Up through the early 1900s, the Ozark hill people in the eastern United States thought that birds and rabbits started mating on February 14, a day for them which was not only Valentine's Day but Groundhog Day as well."
todmsg[505]="Dutch children set out shoes (instead of stockings) to receive gifts any time between mid-November and December 5, the birthday of St. Nicholas."
todmsg[506]="The average digestive tract of an adult is 30 feet in length."
todmsg[507]="The average duration of a single blink of the human eye is 0.3 seconds."
todmsg[508]="\"Mageiricophobia\" is the intense fear of having to cook."
todmsg[509]="\"The bends\" is a painful condition caused when nitrogen gas forms bubbles in a diver's blood. Scuba divers risk getting the bends if they come up too fast from a deep dive."
todmsg[510]="\"Villi,\" finger-like projections on the small intestine (their purpose is to increase the surface area for water and nutrient absorption) are four-hundredths of an inch long."
todmsg[511]="The sense of touch: Electrical impulses travel from the skin toward the spinal cord at a rate of up to 425 feet per second."
todmsg[512]=" A \"nullipara\" is a woman who has never borne a child."
todmsg[513]="A 3-week-old embryo is no larger than a sesame seed. A 1-month-old fetus’s body is no heavier than an envelope and a sheet of paper. Its hand is no larger than a teardrop."
todmsg[514]="The bombardier beetle produces two harmless chemicals in its body that when mixed react together to form a boiling hot spray of chemicals. The beetle shoots the burning mixture at attackers with an explosive sound, and rarely misses its mark."
todmsg[515]="The bombardier beetle, when disturbed, defends itself by emitting a series of explosions, sometimes setting off four or five in succession. The noises sound like miniature popgun blasts and are followed by a cloud of reddish-colored, vile-smelling fluid."
todmsg[516]="The bumblebee does not die when it stings – it can sting again and again. In bumblebee hives, the entire colony, except for the queen, dies at the end of each summer. Each year, an entirely new colony of bees must be produced."
todmsg[517]="The buzzing of flies and bees is not produced by any sound-producing apparatus within the insects' bodies. It is simply the sound of their wings moving up and down at a rapid rate."
todmsg[518]="The calling songs of male field crickets are species-characteristic, and are used to attract sexually responsive females. Females are attracted to the calling songs of males of their own species and not to songs of other species."
todmsg[519]="The careful attention to the rearing of silkworms determines the quantity and quality of the silk. So concerned were the ancient Chinese that any worm out of synchronization with the rhythm and transformation of the majority of worms would be buried or fed to fish to avoid any variation in the silk produced."
todmsg[520]="The caterpillar has more than 2,000 muscles."
todmsg[521]="The caterpillar of the monarch butterfly will eventually multiply its original weight by 2,700 times. If a 7-pound newborn human gained weight at the same rate, as an adult, it would weigh well over 9 tons."
todmsg[522]="A dinner party consisting of 13 people in England during the Middle Ages was the worst of omens. It foretold of the impending death of one in the group. This was associated with the Last Supper, and also with a witches coven, as both had 13 members."
todmsg[523]="A few years back, a Chinese soap hit it big with consumers in Asia. It was claimed in ads that users would lose weight with Seaweed Defat Scented Soap simply by washing with it. The soap was sold in violation to the Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and was banned. Reportedly, the craze for the soap was so great that Japanese tourists from China and Hong Kong brought back large quantities. The product was also in violation of customs regulations. In June and July 1999 alone, more than 10,000 bars were seized."
todmsg[524]="A law in Illinois prohibits barbers from using their fingers to apply shaving cream to a patron's face."
todmsg[525]="The U.S. interstate highway system requires that 1 mile in every 5 must be straight. These sections can be used as airstrips in a time of war or other emergencies."
todmsg[526]="The United States Supreme Court once ruled Federal income tax unconstitutional. Income tax was first imposed during the Civil War as a temporary revenue-raising measure."
todmsg[527]="The Wodaabe, sheltered from the influences of the outside world, have unusual customs. When Wodaabe greet each other, they may not look each other directly in the eyes. During daylight hours, a man cannot hold his wife's hand in public, call her by name, or speak to her in a personal way."
todmsg[528]="There are many theories of how tipping came to be, but the most prevalent story goes back several hundred years to England. When people traveled by stagecoach, they often sent a servant ahead to make arrangements for their arrival. The servant would give the service providers money \"to ensure promptness,\" which was shortened by initials to be \"tip.\" Today a tip is more of a thank you after good service than a bribe to get good service. "
todmsg[529]="There are more than 100 offenses that carry the death penalty in Iran."
todmsg[530]="English anthropologist Francis Galton, a first cousin of Charles Darwin, first worked out the use of fingerprints for identification purposes."
todmsg[531]="Napoleon suffered from ailurophobia, the fear of cats."
todmsg[532]="Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the fathers of communism, wrote 500 articles for the \"New York Tribune\" from 1851 to 1862."
todmsg[533]="In the 1980s, the media revealed that North Pole explorers Robert Perry and Matthew Henson had fathered children by Eskimo women during their years in the Arctic in the early 1900s."
todmsg[534]="Henry Ford was obsessed with soybeans. He once wore a suit and tie made from soy-based material, served a 16-course meal made entirely from soybeans, and ordered many Ford auto parts to be made from soy-derived plastic."
todmsg[535]="English critic and social theorist John Ruskin (1819-1900) made this astute observation: \"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance.\" "
todmsg[536]="Napoleon took 14,000 French decrees and simplified them into a unified set of seven laws. This was the first time in modern history that a nation's laws applied equally to all citizens. Napoleon's seven laws are so impressive that by 1960, more than 70 governments had patterned their own laws after them or used them verbatim."
todmsg[537]="Karl Marx was targeted for assassination when he met with two Prussian officers in his house in Cologne in 1848. Marx had friends among the German labor unions, and he was considered a threat to the autocrats. Dressed in his bathrobe, he forced the officers out at the point of a revolver, which, it turned out, was not loaded."
todmsg[538]="A cosmic year is the amount of time it takes the Sun to revolve around the center of the Milky Way, about 225 million years."
todmsg[539]="A day on the planet Mercury is twice as long as its year. Mercury rotates very slowly but revolves around the Sun in slightly less than 88 days."
todmsg[540]="A dog was killed by a meteor at Nakhla, Egypt, in 1911. The unlucky canine is the only creature known to have been killed by a meteor."
todmsg[541]="A full moon rarely shows up on Halloween, although Halloween is often associated with full moons. Full moons on Halloween over the past century have occurred in 1925, 1944, 1955, and 1974. The next full moon on October 31 will occur in 2020."
todmsg[542]="The star Alpha Herculis is 25 times larger than the circumference described by Earth's revolution around the Sun. This means that 25 diameters of our solar system orbit would have to be placed end to end to equal the diameter of the star."
todmsg[543]="The star Antares is 60,000 times larger than our Sun. If our Sun were the size of a softball, the star Antares would be as large as a house."
todmsg[544]="The star known as LP 327-186, a so-called white dwarf, is smaller than the state of Texas, yet so dense, that if a cubic inch of it were brought to Earth, it would weigh more than 1.5 million tons."
todmsg[545]="The star Sirius B is so dense, a handful of it weighs about one million pounds."
todmsg[546]="You're just as likely to die by falling out of bed then you are to get struck by lightning; each is a 1 in 2,000,000 chance. You have a 1 in 3,000,000 chance of being killed by a snake."
todmsg[547]="The New York stock exchange had its first million-share trading day in 1886."
todmsg[548]="Ten 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.\""
todmsg[549]="More than 70 percent of all bagel shops in the United States are found in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California."
todmsg[550]="ZIP code 12345 is assigned to General Electric in Schenectady, New York."
todmsg[551]="The odds against a person being struck by a celestial stone--a meteorite--are 10 trillion to one."
todmsg[552]="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."
todmsg[553]="More than 80 languages are spoken in New York. The second most common language spoken, after English, is Spanish."
todmsg[554]="About 250 million years ago, the state of New York was part of a chain of volcanic islands, with an ocean on one side and a vast inland sea on the other. "
todmsg[555]="After 94 years of construction, the Mexico Cathedral was completed in 1667."
todmsg[556]="Air conditioners completely recycle the air throughout the Empire State Building about every 10 minutes."
todmsg[557]="The tallest artificial structure in the world is the KTHI-TV tower in North Dakota, at a height of 2,063 feet."
todmsg[558]="The tiniest jail in North America is in Rodney, Ontario, near the southwestern Ontario city of London. Built in 1890 and now a tourist attraction, the 24.3 square metre jail had two cells."
todmsg[559]="The top of the Empire State Building was originally intended as a mooring place for dirigibles. (Although it has never been used for that purpose.)"
todmsg[560]="The total area of Denver International Airport is 53 square miles, twice the size of Manhattan Island, New York, and larger than the city boundary of Boston, Miami or San Francisco."
todmsg[561]="The Tower of London, for which construction was begun in 1078 by William the Conqueror, once housed a zoo. It also has served as an observatory, a mint, a prison, a royal palace, and (at present) the home of the Crown Jewels."
todmsg[562]=" A telegram was sent to Eleanor Roosevelt from the 1939 World's Fair in New York using only the current electric eels."
todmsg[563]=" According to Dennis Changon, spokesman for the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, Canada – if all of the commercial planes in the world were grounded at the same time, there wouldn't be space to park them all at the gates."
todmsg[564]="According to the Federal Aviation Authority, United States airlines are four times safer than the airlines of any other country."
todmsg[565]="According to the New York Telephone Company, of the 398 million telephones in the world, more than one-third are in the United States."
todmsg[566]="Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992. The vehicle weighed in at 6,300 pounds and was 7 feet wide."
todmsg[567]="Actress Sandra Bullock remarked in an interview, \"Fame means when your computer modem is broken, the repair guy comes out to your house a little faster.\""
todmsg[568]="After his death in 1937, Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the wireless telegraph was honored by broadcasters worldwide as they let the airwaves fall silent for two minutes in his memory."
todmsg[569]="Air conditioning was invented by Willis Carrier to help a Brooklyn, New York, printer get decent color during hot, humid weather. Air conditioning wasn’t used for cooling people until 1924 when it made it’s debut at the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan."
todmsg[570]="The word galaxy comes from the Greek word for milk, galacticos."
todmsg[571]="The Romans had three words for kissing: basium was the kiss exchanged by acquaintances; osculum, the kiss between close friends; and suavium, the kiss between lovers."
todmsg[572]="The first letters of the months July through November, in order, spell the name JASON."
todmsg[573]="Silhouettes are named after a French minister of finance who had a reputation for being tight with money, as silhouettes are a tight outline around a subject."
todmsg[574]="The word monsoon is derived from the Arabic word mausim, meaning \"season.\" It was first used by Arab sailors to describe the seasonal winds that blow across the Arabian Sea."
todmsg[575]="The Romans named cattle \"Bos,\" a term that survives today in the affectionate nickname \"Bossy\" for a cow."
todmsg[576]="The flower worn in the buttonhole of a lapel, boutonniere, is from the French word for \"buttonhole.\""
todmsg[577]="Some Australian colloquial terms are: To do your block- Loose your temper, To have a blue- Have a fight, To be stark bollicky- to be naked, To be ridgey didge- To be totally honest, To have buckley’s- No chance at all, To have a decko- To have a look. "
todmsg[578]="A baby blue whale is 25 feet long at birth."
todmsg[579]="A baby caribou is so swift, it can easily outrun its mother when it is only three days old."
todmsg[580]="It takes 42 days for an ostrich egg to hatch."
todmsg[581]="A baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth."
todmsg[582]="It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound"
todmsg[583]="A baby gray whale drinks enough milk to fill more than 2,000 bottles a day."
todmsg[584]="It takes about 50 hours for a snake to digest one frog."
todmsg[585]="Dogs that do not tolerate small children well are the St. Bernard, the Old English sheep dog, the Alaskan malamute, the bull terrier, and the toy poodle. "
todmsg[586]="Purely coincidental, Disneyland and Walt Disney World amusement parks are in counties with the same name. The former is in Orange County, California; the latter is in Orange County, Florida."
todmsg[587]="Robby Benson supplied the voice of the Beast in the 1991 Disney version of Beauty and the Beast."
todmsg[588]="Some \"Hair Facts\" from the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast:<br><br>- More than 140 wigs are worn on stage each night; only three performers use their own hair on stage.<br><br>- Four characters' wigs are made of yak hair: Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Madame de la Grande Bouche, and the Sugar Bowl from \"Be Our Guest.\"<br><br>- 248 hair pieces are used on stage each night, including wigs, moustaches, and bangs.<br><br>- The average number of wig changes for each ensemble member is eight per show.<br><br>- The 30-inch-length human hair needed to build Belle’s wig was specially imported from India.<br><br>- It took 20 pounds of human hair and 400 man-hours to create the first Beast.<br><br>- The Beast’s tail is made up of seven yards of human hair.<br><br>- There are 50 pounds of hairpins backstage ready to go at all times."
todmsg[589]="Some of America's funniest entertainers worked in sales before they hit it big in show business. Steve Martin sold Disneyland guidebooks, Carol Burnett sold handbags in a shoe store, Ellen DeGeneres sold vacuum cleaners, David Hyde Pierce sold clothing, Jerry Seinfeld sold lightbulbs, and Jerry Van Dyke sold Bibles. Even one of the icons of stand-up comedy, Rodney Dangerfield, sold aluminum siding to put food on the table. "
todmsg[590]="The Broadway version of Disney's The Lion King uses more than 232 puppets, including rod puppets, shadow puppets, and full-sized puppets. There are 25 kinds of animals, insects, birds, and fish represented in the show; more than 750 pounds of silicone rubber were used to make molds for the masks in The Lion King."
todmsg[591]="The Contemporary Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World was \"assembled\" in a very unique way. The frame was built first, and then in order to save time and money, each room was constructed on the ground to include all the bedroom items (i.e., chairs, beds, etc.). The finished rooms were then hoisted by crane and inserted into the framework."
todmsg[592]="The Disney film Mary Poppins (1964) was shot entirely indoors."
todmsg[593]="The drawbridge to the picturesque, 77-foot-tall Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland in southern California, actually works. It was lowered on the opening day of the park, July 17, 1955, and remained in a lowered position until the 1980s. At that time, Fantasyland was under construction for re-design. Following the rededication of the new and improved Fantasyland, the drawbridge was lowered again and has remained in that position to the present day."
todmsg[594]="A bolt of lightning can strike Earth with a force as great as 100 million volts."
todmsg[595]="A bolt of lightning travels at speeds of up to 100 million feet per second, or 72 million miles per hour."
todmsg[596]="To help them last longer, put the cut ends of chrysanthemums in very hot water for a moment and then straight into very cold."
todmsg[597]="A cloud forest has a huge number of animals and plants. The cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica, have over 425 species of birds and countless varieties of insects."
todmsg[598]="To qualify as a hurricane, a storm must develop winds in excess of 75 miles per hour. Wind speeds as high as 220 miles per hour have been recorded."
todmsg[599]="A cold front travels at a speed of about 30 miles per hour, faster than the fastest person can run. It may overtake any warm front ahead of it. The resulting mix of air is called an occluded front."
todmsg[600]="To save a 40-foot tree, a stack of newspapers averaging 4 feet in thickness must be recycled."
todmsg[601]=" The average diameter of a one-carat diamond is 6.42 mm."
todmsg[602]="\"Baby-cut\" carrots aren’t baby carrots. They’re actually full-sized ones peeled and polished down to size. And there’s nothing small about their current popularity: about 25 percent of California’s fresh carrot crop is turned into \"babies.\""
todmsg[603]="\"Poached egg\" means \"egg-in-a-bag,\" from the French word poche. When an egg is poached, the white of the egg forms a pocket around the yolk; hence, the name."
todmsg[604]="On the average, each American consumes 117 pounds of potatoes, 116 pounds of beef, 100 pounds of fresh vegetable, 80 pounds of fresh fruit, and 286 eggs per year."
todmsg[605]="Cook's Illustrated conducted blind taste testings of vanillas, and the staff was surprised to find that, in baked goods, expensive, aromatic vanillas performed almost exactly the same as the cheaper brands of real vanilla. The differences virtually disappeared during cooking."
todmsg[606]="On the average, there are eight peas in a pod."
todmsg[607]="Food & Wine magazine reported that in Japan, squid is the most popular topping for Domino's pizza."
todmsg[608]="On the Italian Riviera in Viareggio, there is a culinary tradition that a good soup must always contain one stone from the sea. This stems from the days when an Italian fisherman's catch was scooped up in nets; fish and stones frequently ended up together in the same cooking pot."
todmsg[609]="In 1996, Chicken Alfredo was introduced as one of the new flavors of Gerber Baby Food."
todmsg[610]="The state of Oregon has one city named Sisters and another called Brothers. Sisters got its name from a nearby trio of peaks in the Cascade Mountains known as the Three Sisters. Brothers was named as a counterpart to Sisters."
todmsg[611]="The state of Pennsylvania can lay claim to some dubious firsts. The first woman governor. The zipper. Toilet paper. And the autogiro, ancestor to the helicopter."
todmsg[612]="The states of Arizona, Indiana, and Hawaii have never adopted Daylight Savings Time. Neither has Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or American Samoa."
todmsg[613]="The streets of Victor, Colorado, once a gold rush town, are paved with low-grade gold."
todmsg[614]="The town of Fort Atkinson, Iowa, was the site of the only fort ever built by the U.S. government to protect one Indian tribe from another."
todmsg[615]="The U.S. city with the worst air pollution, according to findings reported in 1996, is Los Angeles, California."
todmsg[616]="The U.S. coastline, comprised of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf waters, involves 25 of the 48 mainland states."
todmsg[617]="The U.S. county that occupies the smallest area is New York County – Manhattan. Despite its small area, Manhattan is considered one of the world's foremost commercial, financial, and cultural centers. It is renowned for its many points of interest. Among these are Broadway, one of the world's best-known streets, Wall Street, skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, Greenwich Village, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera House, the Museum of Modern Art, Columbia University, and New York University."
todmsg[618]="Life magazine featured a new dance craze in 1943 called the \"Lindy.\" The dance was named for 1920s aviator, Charles Lindbergh, who made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean."
todmsg[619]="16,000 B.C In., the last Ice Age reached its coldest point. During this time, people in the Ukraine were living in huts made from wooly mammoth bones."
todmsg[620]="The Second Vatican Council approved the use of vernacular instead of Latin in administering the Roman Catholic sacraments on November 21, 1963."
todmsg[621]="A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to announce a royal birth in Great Britain."
todmsg[622]="The Shell Oil Company originally began as a novelty shop in London that sold seashells."
todmsg[623]="A Decembrist was any of the conspirators against Czar Nicholas I of Russia, in December 1825."
todmsg[624]="The shortest war on record, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted just 38 minutes."
todmsg[625]="Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gave Ottawa, Canada, 100,000 tulip bulbs in 1945. The bulbs were a thankful gift for the safe haven which Holland’s exiled royal family received during World War II, and to recognize the Canadian troops who helped liberate the Netherlands."
todmsg[626]="Easter is a convergence of three traditions: Pagan, Hebrew, and Christian."
todmsg[627]="Eighty-seven percent of American children between the ages of 3 and 10 believe in Santa Claus."
todmsg[628]="Falling in Love Day was born on August 25, 1940, when Ann Hayward and Arno Rudolphi were married at the top of the parachute-drop ride. After they kissed, the couple parachuted to the ground."
todmsg[629]="Following World War I, November 11 was set aside as Armistice Day in the United States, to remember the sacrifices that men and women made during the bloody war to ensure a lasting peace. On Armistice Day, soldiers who survived World War I marched in a parade through their home towns. Congress voted Armistice Day a legal holiday in 1938, 20 years after the war ended. World War II began the following year, and Armistice Day continued to be observed on November 11. In 1953, townspeople in Emporia, Kansas called the holiday \"Veterans' Day\" in gratitude to the veterans in their town. Soon after, Congress passed a bill introduced by a Kansas congressman renaming the national holiday to Veterans' Day."
todmsg[630]="For a majority of Americans, Thanksgiving Day must include the following elements to be a perfect Thanksgiving: eating roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie until you're ready to pop; and watching football games and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV (or see it live if you're in New York City). Launched in 1926, retailer Macy's annual parade was immortalized in the film Miracle on 34th Street, and has become a symbol of the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season."
todmsg[631]="Freedom Day, celebrated on September 3, is in honor of Frederick Douglass, the runaway American slave."
todmsg[632]="From sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday, shops in Israel are closed for the Sabbath."
todmsg[633]="George Washington is the only man whose birthday is a legal holiday in every state of the United States."
todmsg[634]="A baby’s head is about one-quarter of its total height. By the age of 15 years, the head makes up about one-eighth of total height."
todmsg[635]="A bird's eye takes up about 50 percent of its head; our eyes take up about 5 percent of our head. To be comparable to a bird's eyes, the eyes of a human being would have to be the size of baseballs."
todmsg[636]="The stomach is lined with a thick layer of mucus to protect it from its own juices. If the lining breaks down, the acids begin to digest the stomach wall, causing an ulcer."
todmsg[637]="A bowl of lime Jell-O, when hooked up to an EEG machine, exhibited movement which is virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult man or woman."
todmsg[638]="The stomach must produce a new layer of mucus every 2 weeks or it will digest itself."
todmsg[639]="A boy’s voice breaks during puberty because his vocal cords are lengthening. Up until that point, girl’s and boy’s vocal cords are the same length."
todmsg[640]="The strongest bone in the body, the thigh bone, is hollow. Ounce for ounce, it has a greater pressure tolerance and bearing strength than a rod of equivalent size in cast steel."
todmsg[641]="The average female between the ages of 20 and 44 is more likely to be overweight than are males in the same age category."
todmsg[642]="The common male housefly completes its entire life cycle in just 17 days."
todmsg[643]="The dog flea appears similar to the cat flea, but is rarely found in the United States. Cat fleas are commonly found on both cats and dogs in North America, while dog fleas are found in Europe."
todmsg[644]="The evolution of social life in ants and termites has been accompanied by an extraordinary royal perk — a 100-fold increase among queen ants in average maximum lifespan, with some queens surviving for almost 30 years. This longevity can be attributed in part to the sheltered and pampered life of the royal egg layer."
todmsg[645]="The fastest insect on record that has been reliably measured is the Australian dragon fly, which has a top speed of around 57 km/h. Contrary to popular belief, the deer botfly CANNOT fly faster than a jet plane. It would be crushed by the pressure."
todmsg[646]="The fastest snail is the ordinary garden snail. This snail could move at 0.03 miles per hour (0.05 kilometers per hour)."
todmsg[647]="The females of many species of moths are wingless. To compensate for this, their bodies are always larger and heavier than those of their male counterparts."
todmsg[648]="The golden orb-weaver spiders of Papua New Guinea spin the biggest, strongest webs. With supporting threads reaching up to 19 feet (6 meters), their webs can reach 5 feet (1.5 meters) across."
todmsg[649]="The Goliath beetle of Africa has a huge armor that makes it the heaviest flying insect in the world. In fact, it weights more than eight mice and is a common pet with African children, who fly it from a string."
todmsg[650]="There are some driving differences in Japan that tourists should know. Motorists drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right, like in the United Kingdom. In areas where there are few police, people routinely speed 30 km over the speed limit (50 kph), and taxi drivers are notorious for their aggressive driving. The pedestrian always has the right of way, and drivers can not turn on a red light."
todmsg[651]="There is meaning behind the wedding custom of \"something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.\" The \"old\" thing was a personal gift from the bride’s mom to make a bond to the bride’s old life. The \"new\" item symbolized hope for the future and the newly formed family. The \"borrowed\" item was a gift from a happily married woman that would carry some of the woman’s happiness into the new marriage. The something \"blue\" came from two sources that had similar meanings. To ancient Romans, maidens wore blue to show fidelity and modesty, and to Christians, blue was linked to the purity of the Virgin Mary."
todmsg[652]="Tourists need to be aware that, when traveling in Germany, a screwing gesture at one's head is a strong symbol, meaning \"You're crazy.\" Often used by drivers on the autobahn to comment on the driving skills of other travelers, this gesture can get you arrested. The same gesture is used in Argentina."
todmsg[653]="Trap regulations in California for lobster fisherman require an escape port for undersized lobsters."
todmsg[654]="Twenty-two inches is the minimum legal length for commercial sale of California halibut."
todmsg[655]=" A local ordinance in Atwoodville, Connecticut, prohibits people from playing Scrabble while waiting for a politician to speak."
todmsg[656]="A new law passed in the fall of 2000 gives e-signatures the same legal standing as handwritten signatures."
todmsg[657]="A richly embroidered veil, or \"burga,\" festooned with buttons and pendants cloaks the faces of the young girls of Sudan's Rashaida. Their interpretation of Islamic law dictates that females wear the veil starting at the age of five. The covering must be worn even at mealtimes. It can be removed only in the strictest of privacy."
todmsg[658]="In the eleventh century, Benedict IX was Pope at eleven years old."
todmsg[659]="English is taught in Russian schools beginning in third or fourth grade, so most citizens speak at least some English. Interestingly, Russia has more teachers of the English language than the U.S.A. has students of Russian."
todmsg[660]="Napoleon, the famous French general, was not born in France. He was born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica of Italian parents."
todmsg[661]="Karl Marx, a father of communism, was never in Russia in his life. Marx was born in Germany. He moved to France and then England, where he wrote The Communist Manifesto and other famous works."
todmsg[662]="In the July 12, 1963 issue of Time magazine, Charles De Gaulle made the following observation: \"Treaties are like roses and young girls. They last while they last.\""
todmsg[663]="English naval hero Viscount Horatio Nelson chose to be buried in St. Paul's Church in London rather than in the national shrine of Westminster Abbey because he had heard that Westminster was sinking into the Thames River."
todmsg[664]="The star Zeta Thaun, a supernova, was so bright when it exploded in 1054 that it could be seen during the day."
todmsg[665]="The Sun contains over 99.8 percent of the total mass in our solar system, while Jupiter contains most of the rest. The fractional percentage that is left is made up of our Earth and moon and the remaining planets and asteroids."
todmsg[666]="The Sun gives off a stream of electrically-charged particles called the solar wind. Every second, the Sun pumps more than a million tons of material into the solar wind."
todmsg[667]="The Sun is 330,330 times larger than Earth.<br><br> The sun is 93 million miles from earth, yet it's 270,000 times closer than the next nearest star.<br><br>The Sun is about midway in the scale of star sizes, but most are smaller ones. Only five percent of the stars in our galaxy are larger than the Sun. (That's five billion larger stars, however.)<br><br>A galaxy of typical size – about 100 billion suns – produces less energy than a single quasar."
todmsg[668]="A neutron star is the strongest magnet in the universe. The magnetic field of a neutron star is a million million times stronger than Earth's magnetism."
todmsg[669]="The odds against flipping a coin head's up 10 times in a row are 1,023 to 1."
todmsg[670]="The \"Cereal Bowl of America\" is in Battle Creek, Michigan, where the most cereal in the United States is produced."
todmsg[671]="More than 95 percent of the population of Greece reportedly belongs to the Greek Orthodox church."
todmsg[672]="The odds against hitting the jackpot on a slot machine are 889 to 1."
todmsg[673]="The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was the equivalent of 12,000 Hiroshima bombs."
todmsg[674]="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."
todmsg[675]="The odds of someone winning a lottery twice in four months is about one in 17 trillion. But Evelyn Marie Adams won the New Jersey lottery in this period during 1985-86."
todmsg[676]="The 2000 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has a GMC W-series chassis and a 5700 VORTEC engine, which makes it the most powerful Wienermobile in the fleet. It measures 27 feet by 8 feet by 11 feet, or 55 hot dogs long, 18 hot dogs wide and 25 hot dogs high."
todmsg[677]="The twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, currently reign as the world’s tallest buildings at 1,483 feet."
todmsg[678]="The twin towers of New York's World Trade Center contain 208 elevators. Elevators rank as the safest form of transportation, with only one fatality every 100 million miles traveled. Stairs, in comparison, are five times more dangerous."
todmsg[679]="The very peak of the Washington Monument is not stone, but a 100-ounce solid aluminum pyramid, constructed as part of the monument's lightning protection system. In the 1880s, aluminum was a rare metal, selling for $1.10 per ounce and used primarily for jewelry. The pyramid at the top of the monument was the largest piece of aluminum of its day, and was such a novelty that it was displayed at Tiffany's jewelry store before it was placed atop the structure."
todmsg[680]="The Whisky, located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, was the West Coast's first discotheque."
todmsg[681]="The White House and its landscaped grounds in Washington, D.C., occupy 18 acres of ground."
todmsg[682]="All tours of the White House are free. Public self-guided public tours permit visitors to move from room to room at their own pace; once inside the White House, most tours take about 15 to 20 minutes. Visitors usually walk along the ground-floor corridor and look through the doors of the Vermeil room and Library, walk upstairs to the State floor, and through the East, Green, Blue, Red, and State Dining rooms and exit from the north portico lobby. A U.S. Secret Service Tour Officer is stationed in each room to answer questions."
todmsg[683]="Although the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco took 25 million man-hours to build, just eleven people were killed in accidents."
todmsg[684]="Among San Francisco’s skyscrapers, the huge Russ Building was downtown’s largest office tower from 1927, when it was completed, through the 1950s."
todmsg[685]="Although home access to the Internet has grown, the percentage of those users who are \"active\" has been flat at 60 percent. Web companies are concerned that they are missing the mark in providing compelling content."
todmsg[686]="Although most Americans were not concerned about the impact Y2K would have on them personally at midnight on January 1, 2000, they showed greater concern about the effect it could have on others. According to a Gallup poll, 48 percent thought this computer problem would cause major problems around the world."
todmsg[687]="An airplane's black box(recorder)isn't really black but actually orange."
todmsg[688]="An ordinary TNT bomb involves atomic reaction, and could be called an atomic bomb. What we call an A-bomb involves nuclear reactions and should be called a nuclear bomb."
todmsg[689]="Andrew Ellicott Douglass pioneered dendrochronology, the study of the rings in a tree's stump to determine the age of the tree and past weather data. Douglass also was the first astronomer to photograph the zodiacal light."
todmsg[690]="Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak earned money in college by selling \"blue boxes\" to other students. A blue box attached to a pay telephone and created the proper signals to allow a user to make free phone calls."
todmsg[691]="Artificial rain was first used near Concord, New Hampshire, in 1947 to fight a forest fire."
todmsg[692]="As of 2000, about 94 million people in the United States owned a cell phone."
todmsg[693]="The word paraffin is derived from the Greek words \"parum\" and \"affinis,\" which translates to \"barely connected,\" so called from its slight affinity for other substances."
todmsg[694]="The Russian equivalent of \"Mister\" or \"Mr.\" is \"gospodin,\" and its literal translation is \"lord.\" It is used as a title of respect."
todmsg[695]="The foreign phrase de jure means \"by law.\""
todmsg[696]="Some time back, the use of pet names was called hypocorism."
todmsg[697]="The word photography is derived from two Greek words for \"writing\" and \"light.\""
todmsg[698]="The Sanskrit word for war translates to \"desire for more cows.\""
todmsg[699]="The French phrase jeunesse dorée, which refers to wealthy, stylish, sophisticated people, translates literally to \"gilded youth.\""
todmsg[700]="Someone who is \"pauciloquent\" uses as few words as possible when speaking."
todmsg[701]="It takes an average of 345 squirts to yield a gallon of milk from a cow's udder."
todmsg[702]="Dolphins and porpoises differ in that dolphins are larger and more streamlined, and often have much larger dorsal fins. Porpoises are shorter, stockier, and have either triangular dorsal fins, without as curve, or, as in the case of the finless porpoise, no dorsal at all."
todmsg[703]="It takes approximately 69,000 venom extractions from the coral snake to fill a 1-pint container."
todmsg[704]="Dolphins do not breath automatically, as humans do, and so they do not sleep as humans do. If they become unconscious, they would sink to the bottom of the sea. Without the oxygen they need to take in periodically, they would die."
todmsg[705]="It takes the deep-sea clam 100 years to grow to a length of one-third inch."
todmsg[706]="Dolphins have killed sharks by ramming them with their snout."
todmsg[707]="It would require an average of 18 hummingbirds to weigh in at 1 ounce."
todmsg[708]="Dolphins jump out of the water to conserve energy. It is easier to move through the air than through the water. "
todmsg[709]="The female name Minnie is a Scottish variation of the name Mary. Because of the popularity of Disney’s Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse's girlfriend, the name has dropped in popularity in the United States, but is still common in most of the United Kingdom."
todmsg[710]="The first \"technology\" corporation to move into California's Silicon Valley was Hewlett-Packard, in 1938. Stanford University engineers Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their company in a Palo Alto garage with $1,538. Their first product was an audio oscillator bought by Walt Disney Studios for use in the making of Fantasia."
todmsg[711]="The first merchandise item to feature Mickey Mouse was a child's school tablet in 1929."
todmsg[712]="The land that comprises the site of Disneyland, \"the happiest place on Earth,\" was originally 180 acres of orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim, California. Disneyland was built in only one year at a cost of $17 million. In 1998 dollars, that computes to about $104,294,000."
todmsg[713]="The letters that comprise \"EPCOT\" at Walt Disney World stand for \"Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow;\" EPCOT combines technology with international cultures."
todmsg[714]="The Matterhorn at Disneyland in southern California is actually a perfect 1/100 model of the real Matterhorn in Switzerland. The ride was inspired by Walt Disney's love for Switzerland and its majestic mountain. The Disney adventure movie Third Man on the Mountain (1959) about a Swiss youth, played by James MacArthur, who is determined to climb the Matterhorn (called the Citadel in the film), was also inspired by Walt's adoration of the Swiss mountain."
todmsg[715]="The original name of Goofy was Dippy Dawg. He first appeared in the 1932 cartoon \"Mickey's Revue.\" Pinto Colvig originally provided the voice of Goofy. He was also the voice of Pluto, and played the original Bozo the Clown (1949). Pinto also provided the voice of a Munchkin in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, as well as Sleepy and Grumpy in the 1937 Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs."
todmsg[716]="The overhead track used previously for the Goodyear Peoplemover attraction in California's Disneyland now is used for the Tomorrowland ride Rocket Rods. The slow-moving but popular Peoplemover was operational from 1967 until 1997."
todmsg[717]="Tornadoes seem to be an almost-exclusive North American phenomena – they occur more often in the United States than anywhere else in the world.<br><br>The average hailstorm lasts about 15 minutes."
todmsg[718]="Traces of copper give the gemstone turquoise its distinctive color."
todmsg[719]="The average hurricane generates energy roughly equivalent to 400 20-megaton bombs exploding in one day – the equivalent of all the electrical energy used in the United States for six months. "
todmsg[720]="Twenty percent of China's plants are used in medicine."
todmsg[721]="The average life expectancy of a white ash tree is 275 years."
todmsg[722]="Twenty thousand plants are listed by the World Health Organization as being used for therapeutic purposes."
todmsg[723]="The average mature oak tree sheds approximately 700,000 leaves in the fall."
todmsg[724]="Once an orange is squeezed or cut, the vitamin C dissipates quickly. After only 8 hours at room temperature or a scant 24 hours in the refrigerator, there is a 20 percent vitamin C loss."
todmsg[725]="In 2000, the National Chicken Council reported that the average American consumes 81 pounds of chicken a year."
todmsg[726]="One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of soda. A single bushel of corn can produce: 32 pounds of cornstarch, 1.6 pounds of corn oil, 11.4 pounds of 21 percent protein gluten feed, or 3 pounds of 60 percent gluten meal."
todmsg[727]="In 4000 B.C., Egyptians discovered yeast's leavening abilities and turned out more than 40 types of bread."
todmsg[728]="One has to eat 11 pounds of potatoes to put on 1 pound of weight — a potato has no more calories than an apple."
todmsg[729]="In a 1999 National School Lunch Program survey, nearly 70 percent of American grade-school students surveyed said they liked pizza was their favorite entrée, corn their favorite vegetable, and cookies their favorite dessert."
todmsg[730]="One of the fattiest fishes is salmon: 4 ounces of the delectable fish contain 9 grams of fat."
todmsg[731]="In a single production shift, 30 miles of string is used on the Barnum's packages, which runs into 8,000 miles of string per year. As many as 25,000 cartons and 500,000 animals are produced per hour in the Nabisco bakeries."
todmsg[732]="The U.S. state of Maine has 3,500 miles of coastline."
todmsg[733]="The U.S. state that contains the most square miles of inland water is Alaska."
todmsg[734]="The United States consumes 50 percent of the world's production of diamonds. However, there is only one diamond mine located in the United States — in Arkansas."
todmsg[735]="The United States has more than 95,000 miles of coast and more than 3.4 million square miles of ocean within its exclusive economic zone (200-mile boundary)."
todmsg[736]="The United States' national anthem \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" has four verses, although most people only know the first one."
todmsg[737]="The United States today contains more than 100,000 mounds, earthworks and fortifications that were built thousands of years ago by prehistoric races."
todmsg[738]="The United States would fit into the continent of Africa three-and-a-half times."
todmsg[739]="The University of Alaska covers four time zones."
todmsg[740]="The state of Texas is the only state in the nation that has been under six flags, which includes the flags of Spain, France, Mexico, the Lone Star Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. "
todmsg[741]="Prior to World War II, when guards were posted at the fence, anyone could wander right up to the front door of the White House."
todmsg[742]="The Sumerians invented a system of writing called cuneiform in B.C. 3500. While they also had a calendar and a legal system, the cuneiform was their most important discovery."
todmsg[743]="Queen Liliuokalani of the Hawaiian Islands was America's only queen."
todmsg[744]="The symbols + (addition) and – (subtraction) came into general use in 1489."
todmsg[745]="Railroad conductors and mailmen in the United States refused to wear uniforms until after the U.S. Civil War. In 1844, policement in New York City staged a strike against their proposed blue uniforms. The reason for their opposition was that they considered uniforms to be symbols of servitude, as maids and butlers wore them in the old country."
todmsg[746]="The tax imposed on tea that triggered the infamous Boston Tea Party in 1773 was 3 pence per pound."
todmsg[747]="Red coral became a symbol of immortality to the ancient Greeks, presumably because of its branching shape and vibrant color. The Greeks believed it to be a panacea and protector against gout, poisons, and enchantments. Red and pink corals are still said to bring good luck to their owners."
todmsg[748]="The British tradition of lighting bonfires on Guy Fawkes' Day on November 5th, not only commemorates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, but also perpetuates the Celtic festival of Samain when fires were lit to ensure the sun's return after winter."
todmsg[749]="The Canadian Tulip Festival is the world's largest tulip festival. Held in mid-May in Ottawa and Hull, this festival attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. Two million tulips were planted as part of the Millennium Tulip Challenge in 2000. Up to five million tulips bloomed in the National Capital Region, coinciding perfectly with the festival."
todmsg[750]="The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4,000 years ago. Around 2000 B.C., Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 25, although they themselves had no written calendar."
todmsg[751]="The celebration of Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire."
todmsg[752]="The Chocolate Manufacturers Association of America says that 36 million boxes of chocolate are sold for Valentine's Day. According to Hershey's Chocolate Company, Valentine's Day ranks fourth in sales behind Halloween, Christmas, and Easter."
todmsg[753]="The classic Ukrainian tradition of writing pysanky, the ornate decorating of Easter eggs, dates back to over 1,000 years. The present-day symbolic ornamentation of the pysanky consist mainly of geometric motifs. The most important motif on the batik-decorated egg (psyanka) is the stylized symbol of the Sun, seen as a broken cross, triangle, and an 8-point rosette or a star."
todmsg[754]="The day before January 1 is called Silvester in Germany. The holiday is named after pope Silvester I, who died 335 A.D. Typically, Germans will meet somewhere or gather together in their houses on Silvester, waiting until midnight to celebrate the new year."
todmsg[755]="The early Celtic calender began on November 1st each year, which was celebrated with the festival of Samain, when ghosts and demons roamed the earth. This was later instituted in 835 AD as All Saints' Day, or as we know it now, Halloween."
todmsg[756]="The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue."
todmsg[757]="The average healthy person can lose as much as one-third of his or her blood without fatal results."
todmsg[758]="The substance that human blood resembles most closely in terms of chemical composition in sea water."
todmsg[759]="The average human body holds enough: sulfur to kill all the fleas on an average dog, potassium to fire a toy cannon, carbon to make 900 pencils, fat to make 7 bars of soap, 10 gallons of water, and phosphorous to make 2,200 match heads."
todmsg[760]="The swine flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent."
todmsg[761]="The average human eye can distinguish about 500 different shades of gray."
todmsg[762]="The temporal lobe is the area of the brain that allows humans to hear and understand people speaking."
todmsg[763]="The average human eyelash lives about 150 days."
todmsg[764]="The hairstreak butterfly of South America has a fake head, complete with antennae, on its back wings. The theory is that birds will attack the fake head and leave the real head alone."
todmsg[765]="The hardiest of all the world's insects is the mosquito. It has been found in the coldest regions of northern Canada and Siberia, and can live quite comfortably at the North Pole. It is equally at home in equatorial jungles."
todmsg[766]="The hawk moth is the fastest flying insect in the world reaching up to 33 miles per hour. One species of the hawk moth can make a loud squawking noise by blowing air through its tongue."
todmsg[767]="The honey ant of the desert has an unusual method of providing food in times of scarcity. Certain members of the colony are stuffed with liquid food or water until the rear of their bodies are enlarged to the size of a pea. When a famine occurs, these ants disgorge their supplies to feed the others."
todmsg[768]=" The honeybee kills more people each year world-wide than venomous snakes."
todmsg[769]="The Japanese beetle, found in the eastern United States and Canada, is the only bug in these countries to be concerned about if lodged in the ear, for it can chew through the eardrum in a matter of minutes. Other bugs can be removed without the same urgency."
todmsg[770]="The khapra beetle, a tiny creature responsible for devouring vast quantities of stored grain and other dried organic matter, gets its name from the Hindi word for \"destroyer.\""
todmsg[771]="The ladybug is called the \"Water Delivery Man’s Daughter\" in Iraq."
todmsg[772]="A superstition of yore involved a young unmarried woman taking a sprig of rosemary and a sprig of thyme, sprinkling them three times with water, and placing each herb in a shoe. She would then put the shoes at the foot of her bed. This ritual was to guarentee that she would dream of her next beau."
todmsg[773]="A U.S. federal law passed in 1994 requires that plastic six-pack ring holders disintegrate after use. Birds and marine life can get tangled in them and die."
todmsg[774]="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."
todmsg[775]="About a hundred years ago, it was the custom of sailors to put a tattoo of a pig on one foot and a rooster on the other to prevent drowning."
todmsg[776]="According to \"Emily Post’s Etiquette,\" a tip at a family restaurant should be 15% of the bill without tax. For a buffet a 10% tip is sufficient, but never leave less than a quarter even if you only have a cup of coffee."
todmsg[777]="According to law, no store is allowed to sell a toothbrush on the Sabbath in Providence, Rhode Island. Yet, these same stores are allowed to sell toothpaste and mouthwash on Sundays."
todmsg[778]="According to the Recruitment Code of the U.S. Navy, anyone \"bearing an obscene and indecent\" tattoo will be rejected."
todmsg[779]="According to U.S. law, a patent may not be granted on a useless invention, on a method of doing business, on mere printed matter, or on a device or machine that will not operate. Even if an invention is novel or new, a patent may not be obtained if the invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the same area at the time of the invention."
todmsg[780]="Napoleon's hemorrhoids contributed to his defeat at Waterloo. They prevented him from surveying the battlefield on horseback."
todmsg[781]="Kate \"God Bless America\" Smith sold more U.S. war bonds than anyone else during World War II. She sold $600 million worth."
todmsg[782]="In the late 1990s, newscaster Diane Sawyer's annual salary was $7 million a year."
todmsg[783]="English poet Thomas Chatterton died at age 17. Mozart died at 36, Raphel died at 37, Aubrey Beardsley died at 26, and the painter Mazaccio died at 27."
todmsg[784]="Napoleon's nemesis, the Duke of Wellington, was an accomplished yo-yo player. At that time, the yo-yo was known as a \"bandalore.\""
todmsg[785]="In the Middle East, it is an insult to sit in such a way as to face your host with the soles of your feet showing. Do not ever place your feet on a desk, table, or chair."
todmsg[786]="A new star is born in our galaxy is born every 18 days. About 20 new stars are born each year. For comparison, there are 100,000 million stars in our galaxy."
todmsg[787]="A pulsar is a small star made up of neutrons so densely packed together that if one the size of a silver dollar landed on Earth, it would weigh approximately 100 million tons."
todmsg[788]="A solar day on Mercury, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about six Earth months."
todmsg[789]="A space shuttle at lift-off develops more power than all the automobiles in England combined."
todmsg[790]="A space vehicle must move at a rate of at least 17 miles per second to escape Earth's gravitational pull. This is equivalent to going from New York to Philadelphia in about 20 seconds."
todmsg[791]="A spectroheliokinematograph is a special camera used to film the Sun."
todmsg[792]="A sunbeam setting out through space at the rate of 186,000 miles a second would describe a gigantic circle and return to its origins after about 200 billion years."
todmsg[793]=" A teaspoon of neutron star material weighs about 110 million tons."
todmsg[794]="Baseball's Carlton Fisk became the first unanimous winner of a Rookie of the Year Award in the American League on November 12, 1972."
todmsg[795]="Before 1850, golf balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feathers."
todmsg[796]="Bernice Gera became, in 1972, baseball's first female professional umpire. Unfortunately, after battling for five exhausting years against discriminatory league hotshots and hostile, threatening baseball players, Gera quit after umpping her first game: a season-opening New York-Pennsylvania League doubleheader."
todmsg[797]="Billie Jean King holds the distinction of being the oldest woman to receive a singles seed at Wimbledon. She was 39 years, 209 days old when she got the No. 10 seed in 1983."
todmsg[798]="In the game of craps, the slang term \"Little Phoebe\" refers to a roll of 5 on the dice."
todmsg[799]="Instant replay added a new dimension to televised sports when it was featured in a 1963 telecast of an Army-Navy football game. In 1964, it became a standard technique on television."
todmsg[800]="Jack Broughton was one of the most revered boxing figures in England. He was buried at Westminster Abbey, the burial place of British nobility, although Broughton was not a member of English royalty."
todmsg[801]="James Thomas Bell, nicknamed \"Cool Papa\" Bell for his coolness in front of crowds, could bat both left- and right-handed, although he threw with his left. He played center field for the St. Louis Stars, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Homestead Grays, and the Kansas City Stars between 1922 and 1950. Considered one of the best players and fastest runners on the base paths in the Negro Leagues, Bell was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974."
todmsg[802]="More than half of the world's animal groups are found only in the sea."
todmsg[803]="The oldest city in Britain is Ripon, which received its original charter in 886."
todmsg[804]="The Alaskan island of Little Diomede is only 2 ½ miles away from the Russian coast."
todmsg[805]="More than one-third, 38 percent, of adults have lied about what something cost."
todmsg[806]="The Amazon River's flow is 12 times that of the Mississippi. The South American river disgorges as much water in a day as the Thames carries past London in a year."
todmsg[807]="More wool comes from the state of Texas than any other state in the United States. Edwards Plateau in west central Texas is the top sheep growing area in the country."
todmsg[808]="Most American-made car horns beep in the tone of \"F.\""
todmsg[809]=" \"Hey Jude\" by the Beatles had the longest running time of any British Number 1 hit ever. The second longest was \"Bohemian Rhapsody\" by Queen"
todmsg[810]="An obsolete term for a Turkish or Italian bathhouse was a bagnio."
todmsg[811]="Anastasia Island, Florida, was the site of the first alligator farm in the U.S., established in 1892."
todmsg[812]="Arlington National Cemetery occupies 612 acres in Virginia on the Potomac River, directly opposite Washington, D.C."
todmsg[813]="As of 1996, nearly one-third of the United States' 574,671 bridges were either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to a study by the Federal Highway Administration. New York topped the list for decaying bridges, with 63 percent of its bridges needing extensive repair or replacement. Other states topping the list included District of Columbia, with 60 percent of its bridges in disrepair; Massachusetts at 58 percent; and Hawaii at 53 percent."
todmsg[814]="As of 1997, there were approximately 450,000 billboards erected nationwide, up from 300,000 in 1965."
todmsg[815]="At a cost of about $1 million, the first planetarium was opened to the public on May 10, 1930. The Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum of Chicago was a present to the city by Max Adler."
todmsg[816]="At its peak in 1943, the Pentagon had a working population of about 33,000. Today about 23,000 people work in the building."
todmsg[817]="At the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, pumps push more than 2,000 gallons of sea water a minute through jets placed to generate natural currents in the aquarium's kelp forest exhibit."
todmsg[818]="As of September 2000, San Francisco was Number 1 in the United States as the city with the highest percentage of homes with Internet access, at 65.6 percent."
todmsg[819]="At a glance, the Celsius scale makes more sense than the Fahrenheit scale for temperature measuring. But its creator, Anders Celsius, was an oddball scientist. When he first developed his scale, he made freezing 100 degrees and boiling 0 degrees, or upside down. No one dared point this out to him, so fellow scientists waited until Celsius died to change the scale."
todmsg[820]="At a jet plane's speed of 1,000 km (620 miles) per hour, the length of the plane becomes one atom shorter than its original length."
todmsg[821]="Because the eyes work harder when viewing objects up close, particularly on a computer monitor, it is the proximity of the VDT screen to the eyes that causes eyestrain, not \"radiation\" emitted from the screen. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, using a computer or video display terminal will not harm your eyes."
todmsg[822]=" In an effect to curtail crime and enhance its cities, New York keeps most of its subway cars and stations are reasonably clean and well lit. Newly developed subway-car paint, from which other paint can be easily washed, helped eliminate most graffiti. Despite such innovative technology, \"scratchiti,\" writing or drawings etched by vandals, cover nearly all subway car windows."
todmsg[823]="In California, on June 3, 1948, Mount Palomar's huge telescope was finally put into service. Using state-of-the-art technology, it was under construction for 20 years. Twice the size of the large telescopes of the time, it reigned as the world's largest optical telescope for longer than two decades. It was also the first to be equipped with a Pyrex lens, which weighed 14.5 tons — until then, Pyrex had only been used to make cookware. The wealthiest family in the United States, the Rockefellers, had been persuaded by American astronomer George Hallery Hale to finance the $6 million project."
todmsg[824]="In computer-ese, \"wysiwyg\" is an acronym for \"what you see is what you get.\""
todmsg[825]="In December 1957, Shippingport, Pennsylvania, became the site of the first full-scale nuclear power plant in the United States. The plant was able to generate 60 megawatts of electricity after reaching full power 21 days after going on-line."
todmsg[826]="Warren G. Harding was the first president to ride to his inauguration in an automobile. While in office, he was the first president to visit both Canada and Alaska."
todmsg[827]="Richard M. Nixon kept a music box in his Oval Office desk that played the tune \"Hail to the Chief.\"<br><br>Richard M. Nixon suffered from motion sickness and hay fever.<br><br>Richard M. Nixon, as a young naval officer in World War II, set up the only hamburger stand in the South Pacific. Nixon's Snack Shack served free burgers and Australian beer to flight crews.<br><br> Richard Nixon visited both China and the Soviet Union during his term. He was also the first president to visit all 50 states."
todmsg[828]="Warren Harding’s campaign slogan was, \"Return to Normalcy.\" His wife, Florence Harding, was a divorcee and was known for her traditional values."
todmsg[829]="When Andrew Johnson, the first U.S. president to be impeached, died, he asked to be wrapped in an American flag with a copy of the Constitution under his head when he was buried."
todmsg[830]="The word saltcellar comes from the French salière for \"salt dispenser,\" and so literally means \"salt salter.\""
todmsg[831]="The saying \"waiting till the cows come home\" is about 400 years old and refers to the early morning hour when cows line up at gates, ready for milking."
todmsg[832]="The fullest part of a ship’s bow is called a luff."
todmsg[833]="Someone who is eager or ready to shed blood is \"sanguinary.\""
todmsg[834]="The second-best student in a graduating class, whose job it is to give an introductory speech, is called the salutatorian."
todmsg[835]="The generic name of the drug methadone is dolophine. It was named in honor of Adolph Hitler."
todmsg[836]="Someone who thinks constantly and anxiously about his or her health can be called a \"valetudinarian.\""
todmsg[837]="The German name Hans is the rough equivalent of the English names John or Johnny."
todmsg[838]="It's been noted that the gender of a sea turtle is determined by the temperature of the sand during egg incubation. Warm temperatures (greater than 29° C) produce more females; cooler temperatures (less than 29° C) produce more males."
todmsg[839]="Dolphins swim in circles while they sleep with the eye on the outside of the circle open to keep watch for predators. After a certain amount of time, they reverse and swim in the opposite direction with the opposite eye open."
todmsg[840]="Jackrabbits are powerful jumpers. A 20-inch adult can leap 20 feet in a single bound."
todmsg[841]="Domesticated turkeys (farm-raised) cannot fly. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances at up to 55 miles per hour. Wild turkeys are also fast on the ground, running at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour."
todmsg[842]="Javelina herds require a territory of at least 1 square mile."
todmsg[843]="Ducks will lay eggs only in the early morning."
todmsg[844]="Due to a retinal adaptation that reflects light back to the retina, the night vision of tigers is six times better than that of humans."
todmsg[845]="During the 1800s, swan skins were used to make European ladies' powder puffs and swan feathers were used to adorn fashionable hats."
todmsg[846]="Some years after his arrest for drugs, Culture Club's Boy George said wistfully in an interview, \"I thought there was no one else like me in the world.\""
todmsg[847]="Lalo Schifrin wrote the distinctive score for television's Mission: Impossible, for which he earned the Grammy for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show in 1968."
todmsg[848]="Southpaw Entertainers The Entertainment Chronicles"
todmsg[849]="Larry Hama, who wrote the 155 issues of the \"G.I. Joe\" comic book, played a North Korean soldier who stole a jeep that Maj. Frank Burns was riding in a M*A*S*H episode."
todmsg[850]="Spanning from late 1950 to early 1951, Patti Page’s \"Tennessee Waltz\" was in Billboard’s number 1 singles spot for nine weeks."
todmsg[851]="Lassie is the favorite movie dog of animal experts, beating out Benji and Beethoven, according to a survey of Humane Society directors conducted by stuffed animal manufacturer Dakin, Inc.<br><br>Lassie was played by several male dogs, despite the female name, because male collies were thought to look better on camera. The main \"actor\" was named Pal."
todmsg[852]="Laura Dern earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her illuminating performance as the title character in Rambling Rose, an underrated picture in 1991 that also won a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her mother, Diane Ladd. This was the first time a mother-daughter team had been so honored; they became the first mother and daughter ever nominated for Academy Awards for the same movie."
todmsg[853]="The person in charge of polishing the brass poles in the Disneyland theme park spends six hours at the task every night."
todmsg[854]="The song \"Some Day My Prince Will Come\" was introduced in the 1937 Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
todmsg[855]="The Swiss Family Robinson tree house in Disneyland has 300,000 fake leaves on it which are changed twice a year to reflect the seasons."
todmsg[856]="The Tower of Terror climbs ominously into the skies of the Walt Disney World Resort, the tallest structure on property. Nearly 13 stories tall, the ride drops its occupants for a free-fall that lasts 1.75 seconds, during which the riders go from 0-35 mph in 1.0 second. In fact, the ride vehicle is not just released for its fall. To heighten the sensation, the vehicle is actually \"pulled down\" for a brief period. The motors that drive this lift are three times larger than those used in the World Trade Center in New York City."
todmsg[857]="The two-minute storm in the opening of Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) took ten special effects artists longer than a year to complete. This was the last Disney animated feature to be painted by hand. One thousand different colors were used on 1,100 backgrounds. More than one million drawings were produced in all for the film."
todmsg[858]="The voice of Scat Cat in Disney's 1970 animated feature The Aristocats was supposed to be provided by legendary jazz trumpet master Louis \"Satchmo\" Armstrong. The character's look was modeled after Armstrong – the way he played his trumpet, his roly-poly physique, right down to the prominent gap between his teeth. In 1968, Louis even recorded an album that was called \"Disney Songs the Satchmo Way.\" Then, in 1969, the deal suddenly fell apart. Before Disney had gotten Armstrong into the studio to record a single line of dialogue, Louis abruptly bailed out of the project. In desperation, Disney hired Scatman Crothers to provide vocals for Scat Cat. Their direction to Crothers: pretend you're Satchmo."
todmsg[859]="The Walt Disney World monorail actually goes through the Contemporary Hotel’s lobby."
todmsg[860]="Walt Disney dubbed his newest animated film Pinocchio in seven languages for European release. This cost him an additional $65,000. However, when the film was released in February 1940, World War II was underway and the European market was inaccessible. As a result, Disney lost a major source of revenue."
todmsg[861]="Twenty-four-karat gold is not pure gold; there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands."
todmsg[862]="The average pollen particle is less than the width of a human hair. Pollens can remain on your skin and hair for hours after spending time outdoors. Pollens can travel as far as 400 miles and up to two miles high in the air."
todmsg[863]="Use of less fertilizer at precisely the right times can cut costs by up to 17 percent for farmers in developing countries, and reduce damage to the environment."
todmsg[864]="The average rainfall around the world is 40 inches per year."
todmsg[865]="Variations in color in pearls are still a mystery, but some experts believe that high water temperatures contribute a golden cast to some pearls."
todmsg[866]="The average speed of an avalanche is 22 miles per hour."
todmsg[867]="The banana and the Bird-of-Paradise flower are in the same family.<br><br>The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man."
todmsg[868]="One of the top-selling Girl Scout cookies, Samoas, uses caramel made the old-fashioned way. It's cooked at 230 degrees in copper kettles."
todmsg[869]="In a traditional French restaurant kitchen, a \"garde-manger\" is responsible for salads."
todmsg[870]="One pound of wheat will make about three cups of flour."
todmsg[871]="In Alaska’s Matanuska Valley, the long hours of sunlight are used, by some farmers, to grow giant vegetables. One such farmer grew a 100-pound cabbage."
todmsg[872]="One tablespoon of most brands of ketchup contains 4 grams of sugar, 15 calories and 190 grams of sodium. There is no fat in ketchup and processed red tomatoes are supposed to be a good source of lycopene, which may reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases."
todmsg[873]="In ancient China and certain parts of India, mouse flesh was considered a great delicacy."
todmsg[874]="In ancient Egypt, onions were an object of worship. The onion symbolized eternity to the Egyptians who buried onions along with their Pharaohs. The anatomy of the onion suggested a circle-within-a-circle structure, symbolizing eternal life."
todmsg[875]="In ancient Greece, where the mouse was sacred to Apollo, mice were sometimes devoured by temple priests."
todmsg[876]="The wettest location in the United States is Mount Waialeale on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It receives around 480 inches of rain each year, versus the 1,5 inches of rain Death Valley, California, gets yearly."
todmsg[877]="The world's shortest river the D River in Oregon is only 121 feet long."
todmsg[878]="There are 19 buildings in the landmark Rockefeller Center Complex in New York City."
todmsg[879]="There are 40 active volcanoes in Alaska, more than any other U.S. state."
todmsg[880]="There are 61 towns in the United States with the word \"turkey\" in their names (e.g., Turkeytown, Alabama and Turkey Foot, Florida)."
todmsg[881]="There are approximately 100,000 glaciers in Alaska."
todmsg[882]="There are approximately 275 Indian land areas in the United States which are administered as Indian reservations."
todmsg[883]="There are approximately 6,500 square miles of coral reefs in U.S. waters. About 90 percent are found on U.S. islands in the western Pacific; the remainders are off Florida, Texas, and the U.S. islands in the Caribbean."
todmsg[884]="The Times Square \"time ball\" is named the \"Star of Hope.\" It was especially made for the Y2K millennium celebration and contains 504 glass crystals cut into triangles, 600 light bulbs, 96 big lights, and 92 mirrors."
todmsg[885]="Rich King Croesus of Lydians in Asia Minor issued the first money of gold – an oblong piece – in the sixth century. Soon the Greeks began minting money in the shape of discs, striking them with detailed high relief. Romans introduced the familiar serrated edges of today's coins as a way to discourage the practice of shaving off thin slices."
todmsg[886]="The toe of the metal statue of St. Peter in St. Peter's Cathedral, Rome, is worn down almost to a nub by the great number of pilgrims who have kissed it through the centuries."
todmsg[887]="Rome was founded in 753 B.C. and hit its peak between 98-117 A.D. In 410 A.D., Rome was raided by Alaric the Goth and the empire began to collapse."
todmsg[888]="The toga of ancient Rome was won only by freeborn men."
todmsg[889]="Ronald Reagan appointed the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the Supreme Court."
todmsg[890]="Sarah Edmonds was one of many women who fought in the U.S. Civil War in disguise as a boy and a man. She became a Union spy, and later deserted to protect her secret. Edmonds revealed her true identity after the war in an attempt to clear the desertion charges and gain a pension."
todmsg[891]="Scheduled to be demolished in 1968, Grand Central Station was saved by a campaign led by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and architect Philip Johnson. The station was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983."
todmsg[892]="The festival of Easter is said to derive from the old English word Eostre, a northern goddess of spring. It was traditionally a time of rejoicing that growing things were reborn in spring. The Christian festival was superimposed onto this."
todmsg[893]="The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. During the 1870s, her elaborate lace cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they cost a minimum of 5 dollars — some sold for as much as 35 dollars. Mass production eventually brought prices down, and the affordable \"penny valentine\" became popular with the lower classes."
todmsg[894]="Good King Wenceslas was actually only Duke of Bohemia, not a king. He lived in the tenth century."
todmsg[895]="Groundhog Day owes its origins to the ancient Greeks who believed that an animal’s shadow was its soul, blackened by the past year’s sins. While the animal hibernates its soul is cleansed by nature, if it wakes up before winter is over, it will see its dirty shadow and be horrified and return to its den for more purification. Also believing this were the Palatine Germans, ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch, who settled in Pennsylvania and couldn’t find a dach, the animal they thought this referred to. A groundhog was substituted and a tradition was born."
todmsg[896]="Guadelupe Day, celebrated on December 12, is likely the most important religious holiday in Mexico. The day honors the vision of the Virgin Mary seen about 450 years ago by Juan Diego, a poor Indian. Many people walk long distances to reach the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadelupe in Mexico City, the site of Diego's vision. Pictures and statues of the Virgin of Guadelupe are put in windows. Gifts of flowers, pigs, chickens, and eggs are brought to churches."
todmsg[897]="Heinz Vinegar commissioned a survey of Americans' Easter-egg habits, and found that blue was the favorite hue of 35 percent of the respondents when dyeing eggs. Purple (18 percent), pink (17 percent), green (7 percent), and yellow and red (each 6 percent) trailed. After the egg hunt is over, 64 percent of Americans said they eat them and 22 percent throw them away. Ten percent don't color eggs, and 2 percent said they let them rot."
todmsg[898]="Historians claim that the first valentine was a poem sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time. In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first Valentine's Day cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800s and now the date is very commercialized. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14."
todmsg[899]="The thumb is such a major player in the human body that it has a special section, separate from the area that controls the fingers, reserved for it in the brain."
todmsg[900]="The average human has about 10,000 taste buds — however, they're not all on the tongue. Some are under the tongue; some are on the inside of the cheeks; some are on the roof of the mouth. Some can even be found on the lips — these are especially sensitive to salt."
todmsg[901]="The thumbnail grows the slowest; the middle nail grows the fastest."
todmsg[902]="The average human heart beats about 100,000 times every 24 hours. In a 72-year lifetime, the heart beats more than 2.5 billion times."
todmsg[903]="The valves of the human heart are as thick as a single piece of tissue paper."
todmsg[904]="The average human liver is more than five times the weight of the human heart."
todmsg[905]="The average human scalp contains between 120,000 and 150,000 hairs."
todmsg[906]="The average life span of a fifth-century man in England was 30 years."
todmsg[907]="The largest family of beetles are the weevils, who have over 60,000 species in their group."
todmsg[908]="The largest moth in the world is the atlas moth, which can have a wingspan of 12 inches. That’s close to the size of a diner plate. The next largest is the owlet moth at 11.4 inches, then the 10.2 inch haematopis grataria, then the 8.3 Hercules emperor moth, and the 7.1 inch silk moth."
todmsg[909]="The largest spider in the world is the goliath birdeater at a length of 11 inches. At 10.5 inches is the salmon pink birdeater, then is the slate red ornamental at 9 inches, the king baboon at 8 inches, and the Colombian giant redleg at 8 inches."
todmsg[910]="The leaf-cutter ant sometimes makes anthills 16 feet deep and up to an acre wide.<br><br>The leaf-cutting ant can lift more than 50 times its own weight."
todmsg[911]="The life cycle of the chigger is about 50 to 70 days, with adult females living up to one year and producing their offspring during this time."
todmsg[912]="The longest insect in the world is the stick insect at 22 inches. Next is the praying mantis at 12 inches, the giant water bug at 5 inches, the goliath beetle at 4.5 inches, and the grasshopper a 3 inches.<br><br>The longest stick insect is the sawfooted stick insect. It can grow up to 13 inches (33 centimeters)."
todmsg[913]="Almost every weekday morning, free Kleenexes are handed to the commuters in front of Japan's rail and bus stations. The tissues are distributed by workers of the companies whose messages and advertisement are printed on the packages. The reason for this. . . most public bathrooms do not have paper towels or toilet paper."
todmsg[914]="Among the Danakil tribesmen of Ethiopia, when a male dies, his grave is marked with a stone for every man he had killed."
todmsg[915]="An old Ethiopian tradition required the jewelry of a bride be removed after her wedding. Its likeness would then be tattooed on her skin."
todmsg[916]="An old folk custom for selecting a husband from several suitors involved taking onions and writing each suitor's name individually on each. Then all the onions were put in a cool dark storeroom. The first onion to grow sprouts would determine which man the undecided maiden should marry."
todmsg[917]="An old law in Delaware allowed public whipping for 24 crimes and more than 1,600 people were publicly whipped."
todmsg[918]="As is their custom, the natives of the Turkish village of Kuskoy communicate through whistling. This unique language allows the Kuskovians to communicate over distances of up to one mile."
todmsg[919]="Bad weather on the way to the wedding is thought to be an omen of an unhappy marriage; some cultures, however, consider rain a good omen. Cloudy skies and wind are believed to cause stormy marriages. Snow, on the other hand, is associated with fertility and wealth."
todmsg[920]="Baked goods made on Good Friday were thought to contain many virtues. A cross bun kept from one Good Friday to the next was considered a lucky charm. It was not supposed to grow moldy, and it was used as a charm against shipwreck. \"Good Friday bread,\" when hung over the chimneypiece, was supposed to guarentee that all bread baked after that would be perfect."
todmsg[921]="English soldiers were nicknamed \"Tommies\" during World War I because the example name on the forms soldiers were required to fill out was Thomas Atkins, the U.S. equivalent of John Smith. The name first appeared in 1815 when sample forms for soldiers showed where their signatures should appear. Rudyard Kipling also helped popularize the term \"Tommy\" in his writings."
todmsg[922]="King Alfonso of Spain (1886-1931), was so tone-deaf that he had one man in his employ known as the Anthem Man. This man's duty was to tell the king to stand up whenever the Spanish national anthem was played, because the monarch couldn't recognize it."
todmsg[923]="In the spring of 2000, it was reported that a 25-year-old Tehran transsexual, who had just undergone extensive surgery to become a woman, said he wanted to change back to a man after realizing just how poorly women are treated in Iran."
todmsg[924]="Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, had six fingers on one hand. She wore special gloves all her life to hide her deformity. She also had three breasts."
todmsg[925]="English was not the mother tongue of Queen Victoria. Her mother, the daughter of a German duke, spoke German in the home, and Victoria – though she ruled England for 64 years – was never able to speak English perfectly."
todmsg[926]="In the summer of 1994, international film star Sophia Loren signed a multimillion-dollar deal to lend her name to promote a line of furs. Animal rights activist and former French film sex kitten Brigitte Bardot lambasted Loren in the media for the endorsement. Bardot (or \"BB,\" as her fans refer to her) attacked La Loren in a letter made public by her foundation. It stated, \"Even if your financial situation motivates such a gesture, it is degrading, repugnant, lamentable and unworthy to accept bloody money derived from animal hides.\" The media and the public enjoyed this tussle between two former sex symbols."
todmsg[927]="Hindu tradition says that gold is the noblest of metals, and when a father sees his newborn child, he should touch it with gold."
todmsg[928]="A new star is born in our galaxy is born every 18 days. About 20 new stars are born each year. For comparison, there are 100,000 million stars in our galaxy."
todmsg[929]="A pulsar is a small star made up of neutrons so densely packed together that if one the size of a silver dollar landed on Earth, it would weigh approximately 100 million tons."
todmsg[930]="A solar day on Mercury, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about six Earth months."
todmsg[931]="A space shuttle at lift-off develops more power than all the automobiles in England combined."
todmsg[932]="A space vehicle must move at a rate of at least 17 miles per second to escape Earth's gravitational pull. This is equivalent to going from New York to Philadelphia in about 20 seconds."
todmsg[933]="A spectroheliokinematograph is a special camera used to film the Sun."
todmsg[934]="A sunbeam setting out through space at the rate of 186,000 miles a second would describe a gigantic circle and return to its origins after about 200 billion years."
todmsg[935]="A teaspoon of neutron star material weighs about 110 million tons."
todmsg[936]="Jim Thorpe was selected by the American press in 1950 as the most outstanding athlete of the twentieth century."
todmsg[937]="Jockey Eddie Arcaro rode to two Triple Crown wins. The first on Whirlaway in 1941, and then on Citation in 1948."
todmsg[938]="Just about every sport in the United States, excluding basketball and swimming, permits or uses some type of glove."
todmsg[939]="Kendo is a Japanese form of fencing using bamboo foils or wooden swords."
todmsg[940]="Lenin Stadium in Moscow has enough seats to accommodate more than 103,000 people."
todmsg[941]="Martina Hingis of Switzerland won the women's competition in the Australian Open in 1997. At 16, she was the youngest woman to win a grand-slam tennis tournament in 110 years."
todmsg[942]="Boxer Carlos Palomino earned a college degree at Long Beach State the same year he won the world title, the only pugilist ever to achieve that elusive double. He retired when he was only 29."
todmsg[943]="Candlepin bowling uses ten small pins and three balls, and is played primarily in the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The ball is only five inches in diameter, is made of hard rubber composition, and has no finger holes."
todmsg[944]=" \"The Nutcracker\" ballet has inspired many other artists. Thousands of live productions, over 300 recordings, 40 videos, and 200 books have dealt with the ballet. Even Nancy Drew paid homage to the ballet in Mystery #110, \"The Nutcracker Ballet Mystery.\""
todmsg[945]="Death at an early age: Nearly half of deaths among Canadian children and teenagers ages 10 to 19 are due to external causes, most commonly, car accidents. Among teens 15 to 19, suicide is the second leading cause of death, accounting for about 25 per cent of teenage deaths."
todmsg[946]="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."
todmsg[947]="The New York Post, established in 1803, is the country’s oldest running newspaper."
todmsg[948]="They call it puppy love: An American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33 percent of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on an answering machine while away."
todmsg[949]="USA Today reported in 1998 that more than 40 percent of American households with children have guns."
todmsg[950]="100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 grams of fat, 5.1 grams of carbohydrates, 75.8 milligrams of calcium, 185.3 of phosphorous, 9.5 milligrams of iron, 0.36 milligrams of thiamin, 1.09 milligrams of riboflavin, and 3.10 milligrams of niacin."
todmsg[951]="A \"hairbreadth away\" is 1/48 of an inch."
todmsg[952]="Australia's new parliament house in the nation's capital Canberra is one of the largest buildings in the southern hemisphere. The building covers nearly 15 percent of a 32-hectare site and boasts 4,500 rooms. Its floor space is approximately 250,000 square meters."
todmsg[953]="Because of its size, the Pentagon operates much like a small city. It has it's own shopping mall, bank, power plant, water and sewage facilities, fire station, police force, fast food restaurants and a \"mayor\"."
todmsg[954]="Boulder Dam is as thick at its base (660 feet) as a city block is long."
todmsg[955]="Bricks are the oldest manufactured building material still in use. Egyptians used them 7,000 years ago."
todmsg[956]="Britain's Buckingham Palace consists of 600 rooms."
todmsg[957]="Buddhists built a temple to honor Buddha's tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka."
todmsg[958]="Builders use ten to fourteen average-sized trees, or 10,000 board-feet of timber, to construct an average three-bedroom home in the United States, per data from the U.S. Forest Service."
todmsg[959]="Built around 2800 B.C., England’s Stonehenge was designed to align exactly with the sun’s rays on June 21. Stonehenge is the most famous stone circle, or megalith, in existence."
todmsg[960]="In East Providence, Rhode Island, city officials started using TV cameras in 2001 to look for holes in the sewer system. Crews lower cameras into manholes and snake them through the sewer lines to identify leaks and illegal hookups."
todmsg[961]="In Echallens, Switzerland in 1998, a 105-year-old retired Swiss teacher was ordered to attend elementary school, thanks to a computer that cut a century off his age. The mix-up happened because a list of local residents had only the last two digits of his birth date. So the man, along with sixty-five 5-year-olds in the town, received a letter ordering him to start school. The matter was taken care of, and the computer system was changed."
todmsg[962]="In February 1938, DuPont began producing nylon toothbrush bristles."
todmsg[963]="In July 1955, Arco, Idaho, with a population of 1,000, became the first U.S. town powered by nuclear energy. The town's energy was supplied by an experimental boiling-water reactor called the Borax III."
todmsg[964]="In June 1981, the first test-tube twins were born."
todmsg[965]="In New York City, Consolidated Edison has more than 80,500 miles (129,524 kilometers) of underground electrical cable in the city. Some of the power is purchased from Hydro-Quebec, a sprawling series of hydroelectric dams that harness the power of the La Grande River in northern Quebec and Ontario."
todmsg[966]="Bill Gates formed a company to sell a computerized traffic counting system to cities, which made $20,000 its first year. Business dropped sharply when customers learned Gates was only 14 years old."
todmsg[967]="Bromine, extracted from seawater, helps develop photographs."
todmsg[968]="When Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman became the first U.S. president to take office in the midst of a war."
todmsg[969]="Ronald Reagan was the first president to have been a Hollywood actor. He also submitted the first trillion dollar budget to Congress."
todmsg[970]="When Grover Cleveland was Sheriff of Erie County, it was his duty to execute two criminals: one for killing his mother, another for shooting a man over a card game. Both men were hung."
todmsg[971]="Ronald Reagan was the oldest man elected president."
todmsg[972]="When he saw his assassin being beaten by his guards, the dying William McKinley cried out, \"Don’t let them hurt him.\""
todmsg[973]="Rutherford B. Hayes ended Reconstruction and withdrew federal troops from the South."
todmsg[974]="When he volunteered to fight for the Union, Ulysses S. Grant was a 39-year old clerk."
todmsg[975]="Rutherford B. Hayes was nicknamed \"His Fraudulency\" because he allegedly \"stole\" the election of 1876. His honesty was a source of anger for his political allies."
todmsg[976]="Someone who tries hard despite money problems is called a \"battler\" in Aussie slang."
todmsg[977]="Something consisting of eight parts is said to be \"octuple.\""
todmsg[978]="\"Almost\" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order."
todmsg[979]="\"Bushranger\" is the Aussie term for an outlaw or highwayman."
todmsg[980]="\"Capnomancy\" is the observation of smoke to tell the future. Often the smoke is from the burning of poppy seeds."
todmsg[981]="\"Cryptozoology\" is, literally, the study of hidden animals. Examples include the study of such creatures as Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and the Loch Ness monster. Cryptozoology is not a recognized branch of the science of zoology. Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans coined the term to describe his investigations of animals unknown to science."
todmsg[982]="\"Diddle for the middle\" is a slang expression used for the start of a darts game. Opposing players each throw a single dart at the bull's eye. The person who is closest starts the game."
todmsg[983]="\"E\" is the most frequently used letter in the English alphabet, \"Q\" is the least."
todmsg[984]="Racehorses have been known to wear out new shoes in one race."
todmsg[985]="Rats can swim for a 1/2 mile without resting, and they can tread water for 3 days straight. "
todmsg[986]="Rattlesnakes gather in groups to sleep through the winter. Sometimes up to 1,000 of them will coil up together to keep warm."
todmsg[987]="Javelinas are free-ranging, yet territorial animals that travel in small herds. One of the reasons they travel in numbers is so they can huddle to stay warm — they don't handle cold well and can freeze to death quickly."
todmsg[988]="Reaching sexual maturity in the wild at around 15 to 20 years of age, sturgeon can live as long as 100 years. Mature females will produce millions of eggs every two to three years."
todmsg[989]="Just like people, mother chimpanzees often develop lifelong relationships with their offspring."
todmsg[990]="Red bats that live in tree foliage throughout most of North America can withstand body temperatures as low as 23 degrees F during winter hibernation."
todmsg[991]="Kangaroo rats never drink water. Like their relatives the pocket mice, they carry their own water source within them, producing fluids from the food they eat and the air they breathe."
todmsg[992]="Walt Disney got his idea for Mickey Mouse while he worked in a garage. He was watching the mice play one night and got the inspiration for Mortimer Mouse. He didn't change the name until shortly before he finished the first Mickey Mouse cartoon – the 1928 \"Steamboat Willie.\""
todmsg[993]="Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, has been closed only one day since it opened in 1971. Hurricane Floyd on September 15, 1999, was the cause for the closure."
todmsg[994]="Walt Disney World is home to the largest working wardrobe in the world with more than 2.5 million costumes in its inventory."
todmsg[995]="Walt Disney's family dog was named Lady. She was a poodle."
todmsg[996]="When Disneyland's newly restored Snow White's Scary Adventure ride re-opened in 1983, a new soundtrack was recorded. It featured Adriana Caselotti, the original voice of Snow White in Disney's full-length animation film."
todmsg[997]="When Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States was drawn into the World War II, some 700 U.S. soldiers seized the Disney Studio. Their purpose was to help protect the nearby Lockheed aircraft plant – an installation that was vital to the nation's security. The next day, Pres. Roosevelt declared war. For the next eight months, until other provisions could be made, soldiers ate, trained, and lived in Walt Disney's Burbank, California studio. During the war, the Disney Studio created hundreds of insignia for various military units. During fiscal year 1942-43 alone, Disney turned out more than 204,000 feet of film, 95 percent of it for government contracts. Notable was \"The New Spirit,\" a cartoon aimed at convincing Americans that it was their responsibility to pay income taxes. Sixty million people saw the film; a Gallup poll indicated that 37 percent of them were more willing to pay taxes afterward."
todmsg[998]="When Walt Disney arrived in Hollywood in the early 1920s, he got a job as an extra in a western movie. But it rained the day Walt's scene was to be filmed, and the studio replaced him."
todmsg[999]="While a student at Wilson High in Long Beach, California in 1956, former Disney Studio's child actress Luana Patten was working as a box office cashier at the Lakewood Theater when the theater was robbed. At the time of the robbery, the theater was playing her first major film, Disney's Song of the South (1946). Patten was 8 years old when she was cast in the role of Ginny. "
todmsg[1000]="Venezuela's Angel Falls are a mile high. They were originally discovered from an airplane."
todmsg[1001]="Virga are streaks of water drops or ice particles falling out of a cloud and evaporating before reaching the ground."
todmsg[1002]=" Waste industry experts estimate that Americans discard 250 million tires each year, and that more than 3 billion are stored in landfills or litter backyards and \"wildcat\" dumps. Tires burning at landfills generate huge amounts of noxious air pollution. This problem first came to national attention when hundreds of thousands of tires at an East Coast landfill in the United States burned for three years during the 1980s. Tire fires are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to extinguish."
todmsg[1003]="The baobab tree of Australia has a short, fat trunk that develops into a shape that is an almost perfect replica of a bottle. It is known throughout Australia as the \"bottle tree.\""
todmsg[1004]="Water from the north Pacific can be carried by deep ocean currents right around Africa and into the North Atlantic."
todmsg[1005]="The bark of the redwood tree is fireproof. Fires in redwood forests take place inside the trees."
todmsg[1006]="Water has a greater molecular density in liquid form than as a solid. This is why ice floats."
todmsg[1007]="The best diamonds are colored blue-white."
todmsg[1008]="The custom of serving a slice of lemon with fish dates back to the Middle Ages. It was believed that if a person accidentally swallowed a fish bone, the lemon juice would dissolve it."
todmsg[1009]="The darker the olive, the higher the oil content. High oil content means a richer flavor."
todmsg[1010]="The deletable dessert parfait's name comes from the French word for \"perfect.\""
todmsg[1011]="Onions are usually eaten in such small amounts that they make very little difference nutritionally, but the most nutritious ones are scallions, with four times the vitamin C and 5,000 times the vitamin A as other onions. If you enjoy eating onions by the pound, one pound has about 175 calories."
todmsg[1012]="The dish Boston baked beans is so named because it was made and baked by Puritan Bostonian women on Saturday to be served for dinner that night. Because cooking was forbidden on the Sabbath, the leftover beans were served with Boston brown bread for Sunday breakfast or lunch. The dish is a mix of navy beans or pea beans (the latter is preferred by New Englanders), salt pork, molasses, and brown sugar, baked in a casserole."
todmsg[1013]="Only men were allowed to eat at the first self-service restaurant, the Exchange Buffet in New York, opened in 1885. Customers ate standing up."
todmsg[1014]="The dish sukiyaki was originated by Japanese peasants who prepared it secretly in the fields, in violation of dietary taboos against meat or fowl. The word in Japanese means literally \"grilled on a plowshare.\""
todmsg[1015]="Over 180 million Cadbury's Creme Eggs are sold between January and Easter each year — that's more than three Creme Eggs for every man, woman, and child in the United States."
todmsg[1016]="There are four mountain ranges in New York State: Adirondack, Catskill, Shawangunk, and Taconic."
todmsg[1017]="There are four places in the United States with the word \"chicken\" in their name. Chicken, Alaska; Chicken Bristle, in Illinois and Kentucky; and Chickentown, Pennsylvania."
todmsg[1018]="There are more than 100,000 glaciers in Alaska, and about 75 percent of all the fresh water in the state is stored as glacial ice."
todmsg[1019]="There are over three million lakes in Alaska. The largest, Lake Iliamna, is the size of Connecticut."
todmsg[1020]="There is a U.S. state capital that was named after a famous German. Bismarck, North Dakota, was named after Otto von Bismarck."
todmsg[1021]="There were 45 states in the United States at the turn of the century. Oklahoma became the 46th state in 1907, New Mexico and Arizona in 1912, and Alaska and Hawaii in 1959."
todmsg[1022]="Though the Las Vegas sprawl measures 15 miles wide by 15 miles long, most of the 30 million tourists each year tend to mob the 6-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard that includes both the Strip, home to the city's glittering, impressive major casinos, and the downtown area."
todmsg[1023]="Tonto Natural Bridge in Arizona is the largest natural travertine bridge in the world, spanning Pine Creek 183 feet high. Mineral springs rich with limestone formed the massive bridge one drop at a time. Hats, shoes, or other items left in the creek become encrusted with travertine and appear to be made of stone."
todmsg[1024]="The U.S. Civil War conflict had at least thirty different names during the 1800s: The War Against Northern Aggression, The War for States’ Rights, The War for Constitutional Liberty, The War for the Preservation of the Union, The Brothers’ War, Mr. Lincoln’s War. Many Southerners back then preferred to call it \"our Second War of Independence.\" Some Southerners today eschew calling it the Civil War, preferring \"The War Between the States.\" U.S. Official Records use the term \"The War of the Rebellion.\""
todmsg[1025]="The U.S. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it more difficult for black slaves to escape to freedom. Prior to the act passing, slaves were free if they could get to a free state or territory. The Fugitive Slave Act required that slaves be returned to their owners."
todmsg[1026]="The U.S. Library of Congress has compiled a 232-source bibliography on the subject of when, properly speaking, centuries roll over. Almost all of the sources agree that the twentieth century will not end until December 31, 2000."
todmsg[1027]="Scholars believe that the nursery rhyme \"Humpty Dumpty\" is more than 500 years old, and it was originally written to mock a nobleman who fell from favor with England's King Richard III. Why the character is an egg has yet to be explained."
todmsg[1028]="The U.S. Lighthouse Service merged with the U.S. Coast Guard on July 7, 1939."
todmsg[1029]="Seventeenth-century England used ashes, bread, and urine to clean their clothes."
todmsg[1030]="The U.S. Lighthouse Service was founded on August 7, 1789."
todmsg[1031]="Several hundred years ago in America, soap was sold door to door. It was later distributed in general stores, where it was sold from huge blocks. Store customers would indicate how much they wanted and the shopkeeper would cut off that amount and wrap it for taking home."
todmsg[1032]="In 1997, a Menorah was built in Latrun, near the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. It was more than 60 feet tall, weighed 17 metric tons, and took up an area of 600 square meters. A rabbi was lifted in a crane each night of the holiday to light the candles on the menorah, which was made of metal pipes."
todmsg[1033]="The first Thanksgiving celebration was held in 1621."
todmsg[1034]="The holiday Shichi-Go-San, or \"Seven-Five-Three,\" in Japan honors children who are three, five, or seven years old. These ages are thought to be especially lucky. On November 15, families who have children of these ages take part in a special festi"
todmsg[1035]="The meaning of the Chinese phrase gong hay fot choy is \"Wishing You a Prosperous New Year.\""
todmsg[1036]="The night of January 20 is \"Saint Agnes’s Eve,\" which is regarded as a time when a young woman dreams of her future husband."
todmsg[1037]="The weight of a fetus increases about 2.4 billion times in nine months."
todmsg[1038]="The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula."
todmsg[1039]="The word salmonella, referring to bacteria that enter a person's digestive tract in contaminated food and causing food poisoning, has nothing to do with fish. It was named after U.S. pathologist Daniel E. Salmon."
todmsg[1040]="The average life span of an ancient Greek or Roman man was 36 years."
todmsg[1041]="The world's first test-tube twins were born in June 1981."
todmsg[1042]="The average lifespan of a human being's taste bud is 7 to 10 days."
todmsg[1043]="There are 1,200,000 fibers in a human optic nerve."
todmsg[1044]="The average male adult can bench-press 88 percent of his body weight, having 70 to 80 pounds of muscle."
todmsg[1045]="The male praying mantis often loses his head – literally – after courting the female. The latter is known to decapitate the earnest suitor, and she often completely devours him."
todmsg[1046]="The male sea spider has an extra pair of legs which are used to carry the unhatched eggs of its mate. He carries the eggs until they hatch."
todmsg[1047]="The mayfly lives for less than a day a shorter lifespan than any other creature."
todmsg[1048]="The Mexican fishing spider will attach itself to a small leaf and float across a pond as if on a raft. From this vantage point, it hunts its prey of large tadpoles and small fish."
todmsg[1049]="The millipede is a vegetarian."
todmsg[1050]="The monarch butterfly can discern tastes 12,000 times more subtle than those perceivable by human taste buds."
todmsg[1051]="The natural diet of lady beetles consists of soft-bodied insects, such as aphids, spider mites, and young caterpillars. Adults can consume up to 100 aphids a day."
todmsg[1052]="The nephila spider of India spins its webs with strands that are longer than 20 feet long."
todmsg[1053]="Because of heavy traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles from Rome during daylight hours."
todmsg[1054]="Because orange roughy grows slowly – the average fish is between 30 and 50 years old – the New Zealand government has imposed fishing restrictions. Consequently, the fish is not as abundant in stores as during the 1980s."
todmsg[1055]="Before eating, Japanese people say \"itadakimasu,\" a polite phrase meaning \"I receive this food.\" This expresses thanks to whoever worked to prepare the food in the meal."
todmsg[1056]="Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog owners in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately 40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year."
todmsg[1057]="Belgium is the only country that has never imposed censorship laws on adult films."
todmsg[1058]="Body language differs from one country to another. For instance, grasping one's ears is a sign of repentance or sincerity in India. A similar gesture in Brazil – holding the lobe of one's ear between the thumb and forefinger – signifies appreciation."
todmsg[1059]="Britain is a Constitutional Monarchy. The ultimate power in the country lies with Parliament, not the Prime Minister or Monarch."
todmsg[1060]="By photographing the eyes of murder victims, early students of forensics hoped to see a reflection of the murderer lingering in the victim’s eyes."
todmsg[1061]="English writer Rudyard Kipling invented snow golf while living in Vermont. He painted his golf balls red so he could find them."
todmsg[1062]="Hindus acknowledge six seasons: spring, summer, the rains, autumn, winters, and the dews."
todmsg[1063]="Englishmen of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries believed that no one who lay upon feathers could die in peace. Therefore, when death approached, the pillow was withdrawn from under the dying person's head to ease the passing."
todmsg[1064]="Entertainers who were boxers in the early days of their careers include Roy Clark, Bo Diddley, Bob Hope, John Huston, Martin Lawrence, Ryan O'Neal, and Rod Serling. "
todmsg[1065]="\"Kingfish\" was the self-proclaimed nickname of Huey Long, governor and later senator from Louisiana, who was assassinated in 1935. The nickname was pulled from \"Kingfish of the Lodge,\" a black character on the popular Amos ‘n Andy radio program. Long’s choice of the nickname showed a good instinct for self-deprecating humor. His son, Russell Long, managed to live down the nickname \"Princefish,\" and became one of the powers in the U.S. Senate."
todmsg[1066]="\"Little Miss Sure Shot,\" Annie Oakley, had all of her gold shooting medals melted down, then sold the gold and gave the money to charity."
todmsg[1067]="\"The Pieta\" is the only sculpture on which Michelangelo is believed to have carved his name."
todmsg[1068]="\"USA Today\" reported that many people in Hong Kong have designated blue and white, not black, as the colors of death."
todmsg[1069]="According to astronomers, we haven’t caught sight of a solar system that resembles our own yet."
todmsg[1070]="According to many astronomers, two of every three stars in the galaxy are binary, meaning pairs of stars are more common than single-star systems like our own."
todmsg[1071]="According to Professor David Saunders of the Psychology Department of the University of Chicago, abnormally large numbers of UFO sightings occur every 61 months, usually at distances from 1,500 to 2,000 miles apart."
todmsg[1072]="According to scientists, gold exists on Mars, Mercury, and Venus."
todmsg[1073]="After the first moonwalk in 1969, Pan American Airlines began accepting reservations for commercial flights to the moon, dates and time unspecified. More than 90,000 requests poured in immediately."
todmsg[1074]="Afternoon temperatures on Mars go up to about 80° F in some areas, and down to -190° F at night."
todmsg[1075]="All the coal, oil, gas, and wood on Earth would only keep the Sun burning for a few days."
todmsg[1076]="All the planets in our solar system could be placed inside the planet Jupiter."
todmsg[1077]="Clay court, hard court, and grass are the three types of tennis court playing surfaces."
todmsg[1078]="Climbing stairs burns up 250 percent more calories than swimming for the same amount of time, and 150 percent more than tennis or bowling."
todmsg[1079]="Crowds of up to 15,000 are common for major badminton tournaments in Malaysia."
todmsg[1080]="Curling has been played in Canada since the mid-18th century when the game was introduced by Scottish soldiers. The first curling club in North America was established in Montreal in 1807."
todmsg[1081]="Darryl Strawberry is the only baseball player ever to play for the Mets, Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers."
todmsg[1082]="During an 18-hole round of golf, the ball is on the face of the club for less than half a second."
todmsg[1083]="Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races – including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso."
todmsg[1084]="Edward Kennedy, future politician, scored the only touchdown for Harvard when they played Yale in 1955."
todmsg[1085]="The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., has five sides, five stories, and five acres in the middle."
todmsg[1086]="A 1991 Gallup survey indicated that 49 percent of Americans didn't know that white bread is made from wheat."
todmsg[1087]="The percentage of income tax paid by the average American has more than doubled since 1953. In 1953 the average family paid 11 percent of its income out in taxes. In 1976 it paid 23 percent."
todmsg[1088]="The average 6-month accumulation of barnacles on the hull of a ship can produce enough drag to force the vessel to burn 40 percent more fuel than normal when cruising."
todmsg[1089]="The population of Colombia doubles every 22 years."
todmsg[1090]="The average American spends about 3,500 hours shaving in a lifetime."
todmsg[1091]="Most Virgin Islanders are the descendants of slaves who worked colonial plantations."
todmsg[1092]="The population of the American colonies in 1610 was 350."
todmsg[1093]="Built in 1763, Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is the oldest surviving synagogue in North America."
todmsg[1094]="Built in 1967, the world’s only flying saucer launching pad is in St. Paul, Alberta, Canada."
todmsg[1095]="Built in only 16 months between 1941 and 1942, the Pentagon is only 71ft tall and yet it has 5 floors, 17.5 miles of corridors, 131 stairways, 284 restrooms, 691 drinking fountains, and 7,754 windows. Workers replace more than 250 lightbulbs each day."
todmsg[1096]="Burial space at Arlington National Cemetery is limited. At the current rate, it is expected to be full in 2020."
todmsg[1097]="Calaway Park is western Canada’s largest outdoor family amusement park. It is located a few miles west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada."
todmsg[1098]="California Registered Historical Landmark #976 is a garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. It's the birthplace of the world's first high-tech region, the \"Silicon Valley.\" The idea for such a region originated with Dr. Fredrick Terman, a Stanford University professor who encouraged his students to start up their own electronics companies locally, rather than join established firms on the East coast.The first two students to follow his advice were David Packard, who in 1938 was renting (with his wife) the ground floor of a small house, and William R. Hewlett, who was single and living in a tiny cottage in the backyard.<br><br>That year they began developing their first product in a 12-foot by 18-foot garage adjacent to the cottage. Hewlett Packard's first big order arrived two years later: Walt Disney Productions purchased four resistance-tuned audio oscillators for sound production of the classic film Fantasia. "
todmsg[1099]="Camp Snoopy is the largest indoor themed entertainment park in America. Located inside The Mall of The Americas in Bloomington, Minnesota, Camp Snoopy sits under 1.2 miles of skylights, allowing 70 percent of the natural light to enter the Park. Camp Snoopy is home to more than 400 trees and 30,000 live plants. More than 20,000 lady bugs have been released into Camp Snoopy to allow for a natural means for pest control."
todmsg[2000]="Changes to the appearance of the White House in Washington D.C., have occurred over the years. For instance, President William Taft converted the White House stables into a garage for four cars in 1909. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an avid golfer, had a putting green installed on the White House lawn. He also banished squirrels from the grounds because they were ruining the green. President Richard Nixon disliked the press, so it was odd that he ordered the filling in of the White House's swimming pool, thus giving reporters more room when covering White House events. Soon after Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974, the new President, Gerald Ford, had another pool dug on the White House lawn."
todmsg[2001]="Burning Pixel Productions created the net-famous Dancing Baby in October 1996. The popular, computer-generated, diaper-clad tot danced to many tunes, including \"Hooked on a Feeling\" and \"The Macarena,\" and gave birth to many other computer-generated dancing characters in the late 1990s."
todmsg[2002]="Charles Thurber patented the first successful typewriter in August 1843."
todmsg[2003]="Chevrolet was founded by Louis Chevrolet in 1911, but was sold to General Motors in 1917."
todmsg[2004]="Coast-to-coast direct-dial telephone service became available in the United States on November 10, 1951."
todmsg[2005]="Coffee used to be decaffeinated with dichloromethane, CH2Cl2. Dichloromethane selectively dissolves caffeine without removing sugars, peptides, and flavor ingredients. However, it is somewhat toxic, and when evidence suggested that it might be carcinogenic, its use was halted in the United States."
todmsg[2006]="Colonel Waring, New York City Street Cleaning Commissioner, was responsible for organizing the first rubbish-sorting plant for recycling in the United States in 1898."
todmsg[2007]="Computer crime has quadrupled over the past three years, according to a 2000 survey by the FBI and San Francisco's Computer Security Institute. Seventy-five percent of the hacking victims — most often corporations and government agencies — have found that it costs an average of $1 million per intrusion to investigate, repair, and secure their systems once they've been hacked."
todmsg[2008]="Computer monitors need to stay cool. Unfortunately, they make handy resting places for various items. But if papers, manuals, and other miscellany are piled on top of the monitor, the cooling vents are blocked. Internal heat shortens the life of monitors."
todmsg[2009]="When he was a boy, Richard Nixon's mother wanted him to become a Quaker missionary; conversely, Nixon wanted to be an FBI agent."
todmsg[2011]="Rutherford B. Hayes’ wife, Lucy Webb, was the first First Lady to graduate from college (Wesleyan). Popular for her intelligence, humor and cheerful spirit Lucy did not allow drinking in the White House and was nicknamed \"Lemonade Lucy.\" "
todmsg[2012]="When he was a child, Rutherford B. Hayes won spelling contests in elementary school."
todmsg[2013]="When he was already president of the United States, and his mother was past 80 years of age, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) remarked that he had never, in his whole life, gone out of doors without his mother calling after him, \"Franklin! Are you sure you're dressed warmly enough?\""
todmsg[2014]="When his administration was crippled by the Teapot Dome scandal, President Warren Harding used his dog Laddie Boy to restore his reputation with the American public. Historians consider Harding the \"Father of the First Dog\" photo op. He even had a hand-carved chair built for Laddie Boy to sit in during Cabinet meetings."
todmsg[2015]="When James Madison took office, there were 7 million people living in the United States."
todmsg[2016]="When the first U.S. Congress set the president's pay at $25,000 per year, they also established the vice president's salary at $5,000."
todmsg[2017]="\"Fine turkey\" and \"honeycomb\" are terms used for different qualities and textures of sponges."
todmsg[2018]="\"Go\" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language."
todmsg[2019]="The word SILENT contains exactly the same letters as the word LISTEN."
todmsg[2020]="\"Guddling\" was the act of fishing with one's hands by reaching under stones along river banks — it is now an outdated term. "
todmsg[2021]="The word skeleton comes from the Ancient Greek word for dry."
todmsg[2022]="The side strip of a finger in a glove is called a \"fourchette.\""
todmsg[2023]="\"Hagiology\" is the branch of literature dealing with the lives and legends of saints."
todmsg[2024]="The words \"naked\" and \"nude\" are not the same. Naked implies unprotected. Nude means unclothed."
todmsg[2025]="During the mating season, male porcupines bristle their quills at each other and chatter their teeth in rage before attacking. All porcupines at this time become very vocal: grunting, whining, chattering, even barking and mewing at each other."
todmsg[2026]="Reindeer have scent glands between their hind toes. The glands help them leave scent trails for the herd. Researchers say the odor smells cheesy."
todmsg[2027]="Kangaroos can move as fast as 30 miles per hour and can leap up to 25 feet in the air."
todmsg[2028]="Duroc is one American breed of hardy hogs having drooping ears – it was allegedly named after the horse owned by the hog's breeder."
todmsg[2029]="Reportedly, beavers mate for life."
todmsg[2030]="Kangaroos usually give birth to one young annually. The young kangaroo, or joey, is born alive at a very immature stage, when it is only about 2 cm long and weighs less than a gram."
todmsg[2031]="Each day, 100 or more whales are killed by fishermen."
todmsg[2032]="Reptiles are never slimy. Their scales have few glands, and are usually silky to the touch."
todmsg[2033]="While creating the movie Toy Story (1995), the animation team at Pixar Animation Studios perfected the movement of the toy soldiers by gluing some sneakers to a sheet of wood and trying to walk around with them on."
todmsg[2034]="Water that is evaporated by air flowing in from outside leaves a residue of bumpy cave popcorn. Like moss on the north side of trees used by hikers for direction, cavers use cave popcorn as a compass to find new passages or their way out. \"Moonmilk\" is made of tiny calcite crystals, but has the look and feel of cottage cheese. It was a folk medicine smeared on livestock to heal wounds in ancient times. The folklore was accurate; moonmilk from caves is made from the same type of bacteria used to make antibiotics."
todmsg[2035]="The biggest snowflake ever reported measured 15 inches across."
todmsg[2036]="We rely on the Sun's output remaining steady for our climate to support life on Earth. If the Sun's energy output would decreased by one-tenth, the entire Earth would be covered in ice one mile thick; if the sun's energy increased by 30 percent, all life on Earth would be burnt to a cinder."
todmsg[2037]="The bleakest places on Earth are the two poles: the South Pole has no sunshine for 182 days each year; the North Pole does slightly better — it has no sunlight for 176 days."
todmsg[2038]="The bulbs and leaves of the daffodil contain poisonous crystals which only a select few insects can eat without suffering an agonizing death. While squirrels and other rodents won't eat them, they may dig up the bulbs."
todmsg[2039]="The California redwood – coast redwood and giant sequoia – are the tallest and largest living organism in the world."
todmsg[2040]="In ancient Rome, flamingo tongues were considered a great delicacy. Their existence was threatened by hunters. The Romans made a law making it illegal to hunt flamingos but, it failed."
todmsg[2041]="The drink Ovaltine was made of milk, malt, egg, and cocoa, and was developed in 1904 in Berne, Switzerland. It was originally named Ovomaltine. A clerical error changed it when the manufacturer registered the name."
todmsg[2042]="Oysters Rockefeller were created in 1899 at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans when a European snail shortage prompted chef Jules Alciatore to turn to local oysters. This was a daring move, as the creatures were usually shunned at the time. Alciatore created a sauce of unsurpassed richness, and so he named the dish after the immensely wealthy Rockefeller family. The famed oyster dish remains one of history's great culinary creations, and its recipe remains a closely-guarded secret at Antoine's, though it has been imitated countless times."
todmsg[2043]="In ancient Rome, it was considered a sin to eat the flesh of a woodpecker."
todmsg[2044]="The early eating bars of chocolate were made of bittersweet chocolate. Milk chocolate was introduced in 1875 when Henry Nestlé, a maker of evaporated milk, and Daniel Peter, a chocolate maker, got together and invented milk chocolate. Today milk chocolate is preferred by 80 percent of the world's population."
todmsg[2045]="Oysters were a major part of life in New York in the late 1800s. They were eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; they were pickled, stewed, baked, roasted, fried, scalloped, and used in soups, patties, and puddings. Oystering in New York supported large numbers of families, and oyster theft was a prevalent problem."
todmsg[2046]="In ancient Rome, oysters were so highly prized that they were sold for their weight in gold."
todmsg[2047]="The early Indians of the southwestern United States only ate the organs of the animals they hunted for food, and left the muscles for predatory animals. Their meat-eating habits were changed by European influences."
todmsg[2048]="Towering more than a mile above the Wyoming valley known as Jackson Hole, the awe-inspiring Grand Teton rises to 13,770 feet above sea level. Located south of Yellowstone National Park, twelve Teton peaks reach higher than 12,000 feet elevation, high enough to support a dozen mountain glaciers. Youngest of the mountains in the Rocky Mountain system, the Teton Range displays some of the North America’s oldest rocks. About 4.1 million people visit Grand Teton National Park every year."
todmsg[2049]="Twenty-three states of the United States border an ocean."
todmsg[2050]="Using satellite-surveying techniques, scientists have determined that Los Angeles, California, is moving east. At a rate estimated to be about one-fifth of an inch per year, the city is moving closer to the San Gabriel Mountains."
todmsg[2051]="Utah is known as the \"Beehive State.\""
todmsg[2052]="Various U.S. cities are named after other countries.You can visit the U.S. city of Peru in the states of Maine, Nebraska, and New York."
todmsg[2053]="Various U.S. cities have been named for popular European cities. If you say you're going to be vacationing in Paris, it could mean the city located in either the states of Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, or West Virginia.Perris, California is another possibility. Then again, it could be in France."
todmsg[2054]="The U.S. Mint was authorized to produce one-cent copper coins on April 2, 1792. Originally, there were four designs struck: the \"chain\" cent, the \"wreathed\" cent, the \"flowing hair\" cent, and the \"liberty\" cent." 
todmsg[2055]="Since Hollywood, California was primarily a farming community before the movie industry exploded, courses in horticulture at Hollywood High School were popular. Farmers didn't wear ties to the field in 1911, but the students did."
todmsg[2056]="The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867. The total sale price was close to 2 cents an acre or $7,200,000."
todmsg[2057]="Sir Francis Drake and his crew landed in what is now California on June 17, 1579. The natives thought they were gods and offered them their entire country. Drake accepted and claimed the land in the name of Queen Elizabeth, calling it New Albion."
todmsg[2058]="The United States bought the lands to the west of the Mississippi River from France in 1803. "
todmsg[2059]="Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka was the world’s first woman prime minister."
todmsg[2060]="The United States joined the World War I efforts in 1917, three years after the war began and about a year before the war ended in 1918."
todmsg[2061]="Six states entered the United States during Benjamin Harrison’s term as U.S. president: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington."
todmsg[2062]="The official colors for Mardi Gras–Fat Tuesday–are purple, green, and gold."
todmsg[2063]="The second Monday of October in Japan is Taiiku no Hi, or Sports Day, a national holiday intended to foster healthy minds and bodies through physical activity. It was originally established to commemorate the 1964 Olympic Games held in Tokyo, which were held from October 10 to 24. It was designated a national holiday two years later in 1966; in 2000, it was changed to the second Monday of the month."
todmsg[2064]="The shoes of the large helium balloon of fast-food icon Ronald McDonald in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade each measure 22 feet long and 8 feet wide."
todmsg[2065]="The top two Thanksgiving Day pie picks are pumpkin, at 28 percent, and apple, at 25 percent."
todmsg[2066]="The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth."
todmsg[2067]="In a famous New Year's Day column, newspaperman Westbrook Pegler repeated the same sentence 50 times. It was \"I will never mix gin, beer, and whiskey again.\""
todmsg[2068]="In ancient China, people put drawings of the gate gods on their gates during the Chinese New Year. Brothers Shen Tu and Yu Lei, who were legendary for vanquishing a monster in a magical peach forest while serving as its guards, were believed to be the gate gods. The signs were to insure peace in the new year. Originally, the signs were made of peach board, and were later replaced with paper."
todmsg[2069]="There are 100 billion neurons in the human brain. Each neuron is linked to hundreds of other neurons."
todmsg[2070]="The average man's muscles comprise about 40 percent of body weight, or about 70 pounds. The average woman's muscles make up about 30 percent of body weight, or about 43 pounds."
todmsg[2071]="There are 110 calories per hour consumed during an hour of typing – only 30 more than those used while sleeping."
todmsg[2072]="The average person can live up to eleven days without water, assuming a mean temperature of 60° F."
todmsg[2073]="There are 20 teeth in any human’s first set of teeth. By adulthood, humans have 32 teeth that must last for a lifetime."
todmsg[2074]="The average person sheds about 1 and a half pounds of skin each year."
todmsg[2075]="There are 22 bones in the adult human skull."
todmsg[2076]="The average person takes 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, according to the American Podiatric Association."
todmsg[2077]="California legislation prohibits netting for swordfish or thresher shark within 75 miles of the mainland from February 1 through August 14."
todmsg[2078]="California state law allows thirteen species of rockfish to be called Pacific red snapper when sold at market. These include bocaccio, chilipepper, yellowtail, vermilion, widow, and olive rockfish. However, none of these fish is a true red snapper, which is an Atlantic species not found on the West Coast."
todmsg[2079]="Candy made from pieces of barrel cactus was outlawed in the United States in 1952 to protect the species."
todmsg[2080]="In Atlanta, Georgia, it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole or street lamp."
todmsg[2081]="In Breton, Alabama, there is a law on the town's books against riding down the street in a motorboat."
todmsg[2082]="In Britain, a horseshoe was not thought to be lucky traditionally. It was thought to be a guardian against all evil forces, as inhabitants of the spirit world were supposed to flee from the sight of cold iron."
todmsg[2083]="In Britain, the law was changed in 1789 to make the method of execution hanging. Prior to that, burning was the modus operandi. The last female to be executed by burning in England was Christian Bowman. Her crime was making counterfeit coins."
todmsg[2084]="In Canada, if a debt is higher than 25 cents, it is illegal to pay it with pennies."
todmsg[2085]="\"Paniolos,\" Hawaiian cowboys, took their name from a mispronunciation of \"españoles,\" or Spaniards. This was the title of Mexican cowpunchers who came to the Hawaiian islands in the 1820s."
todmsg[2086]="\"Typhoid Mary’s\" real name was Mary Mallon, and she was blamed for spreading typhoid to at least 1,300 New York City residents in 1903 alone. She continued to spread the illness by working with food, under assumed names, until she was placed in permanent detention in 1915 until her death in 1938."
todmsg[2087]="Kenbei is an anti-American sentiment coined in the 1990s by the Japanese, and literally means \"hate America.\""
todmsg[2088]="Nearly half of all psychiatrists have been attacked by one of their patients."
todmsg[2089]="Lolita's author Vladimir Nabokov once noted, \"I dislike immersing myself in a swimming pool. It is, after all, only a big tub where other people join you — makes one think of those horrible Japanese communal baths, full of a floating family, or a shoal of businessmen.\" "
todmsg[2090]="Neil Armstrong, astronaut and descendant of the Armstrongs of Mangerton, Scotland, was made a freeman of Langholm when he visited the town on March 11, 1972, during his world tour."
todmsg[2091]="King Charles VII, who was assassinated in 1167, was the first Swedish king with the name of Charles. Charles I, II, III, IV, V, never existed. To add to the mystery, almost 300 years went by before there was a Charles VIII (1448-57)."
todmsg[2092]="Sibling-less: Notables who were the only child in their families include Ansel Adams, Hans Christian Andersen, Carol Burnett, Raymond Chandler, Eric Clapton, Linda Ellerbee, Louis Gossett, Jr., Robert Englund, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Ted Koppel, Ivan Lendl, Barry Manilow, Maria Montessori, Jack Nicholson, Flannery O'Connor, Al Pacino, Charlie \"Bird\" Parker, Robert Edwin Peary, Lisa Marie Presley, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Frank Sinatra, Robin Williams, and Tiger Woods."
todmsg[2093]="Although the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, it appears the same size in the sky because it is 400 times farther away."
todmsg[2094]="An area of the Sun's surface the size of a postage stamp shines with the power of 1,500,000 candles."
todmsg[2095]="An estimated 10,000 million of the 100,000 million stars in our galaxy have died and produced white dwarfs."
todmsg[2096]="An object weighing 100 pounds on Earth would weigh just 38 pounds on Mars."
todmsg[2097]="If an object has no molecules, the concept of temperature is meaningless. That's why it's technically incorrect to speak of the \"cold of outer space\" — space has no temperature, and is known as a \"temperature sink,\" meaning it drains heat out of things."
todmsg[2098]="If Earth was the size and weight of a table tennis ball, the Sun would measure 12 feet and weigh 3 tons. On this scale, the Earth would orbit the Sun at a distance of 1,325 feet."
todmsg[2099]="If Earth was the size of an apple, the atmospheric layer would be no thicker than the skin of the apple."
todmsg[2100]="If Earth were the size of a quarter, the Sun would be as large as a 9-foot ball and would be located a football field's distance from Earth."
todmsg[2101]="Moses Malone became the first player to go from high school straight into pro basketball in 1974. The move made him the highest salaried teenage athlete in the United States at that time. Malone was signed by the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association."
todmsg[2102]="Nearly one million women in the United States go hunting annually."
todmsg[2103]="No high jumper has ever been able to stay off the ground for more than one second."
todmsg[2104]="Not everyone believes that baseball originated in the United States. In 1962, the Soviet newspaper Izvestia asserted that \"Beizbol\" was an old Russian game."
todmsg[2105]="Of the 192 countries on Earth, three of them – Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and the Vatican City – have no National Olympic Committees."
todmsg[2106]="Officially, there are 70 winning moves in sumo wrestling, including twists, thrusts, flips, and shoves."
todmsg[2107]="On February 27, 1977, Eric Heiden became the first person to win three world titles for speed skating in one year."
todmsg[2108]="On July 29, 1939, Johnny Mize was the first ball player to have two three-homer games in one season."
todmsg[2109]="The average American uses 12.4 gallons of water to take a shower which lasts, on the average, 10.4 minutes at an average temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit."
todmsg[2110]="Nabisco uses more than 37 million pounds of chocolate a year to make Chips Ahoy! cookies. Every kid in America could have a solid 8-ounce chocolate bunny for that amount of chocolate."
todmsg[2111]="The population of the entire world in 5000 B.C., according to the National Population Council, was 5 million."
todmsg[2112]="The average American walks 18,000 steps a day."
todmsg[2113]="Nearly 100 percent of the dirt in the average home originated from outside – 80 percent of that comes in on people, stuck to their clothes and their feet."
todmsg[2114]="The pumpkin has been known to develop roots whose total length reached 82,000 feet--more than 15 miles."
todmsg[2115]="The average American wedding costs from $15,000 to $20,000 and includes approximately 188 guests."
todmsg[2116]="Nearly half of deaths among Canadian children and teenagers aged 10 to 19 are due to external causes, most commonly, car accidents. Among teens 15 to 19, suicide is the second leading cause of death, accounting for about 25 per cent of teenage deaths."
todmsg[2117]="Cleveland Stadium was built for what became a failed attempt by Cleveland to host the 1932 Olympic Games."
todmsg[2118]="Close to Niagara Falls and Buffalo in Orchard Park, New York, is the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum, which features one of the world’s largest collections of antique American bicycles, including thousands of items of cycling-related memorabilia. The museum's machines are completely restored to their original condition. Recent acquisitions on display at the museum include several 1890s military bicycles and a very rare large two-wheeled bicycle manufactured in 1888 on which the rider sits between two large wheels, one on either side. The Pedaling History Bicycle Museum is the only one of its kind in America, and one of only a few remaining in the world. It is the biggest and most complete bicycle museum in the United States."
todmsg[2119]="Completed in Denmark in 1998, the Storebælt bridge has the longest main span of any in the region and the second longest in the world as of 2001. The bridge's main span, which is the longest distance between two supports, measures 5,328 feet (1,624 meters)."
todmsg[2120]="Mann's Chinese Theater is Hollywood's most celebrated and visited landmark, and was declared a historic-cultural monument by the city of Los Angeles in 1968. Prestigious for actors and film industry members to be chosen to immortalize their hand and footprints in cement in front of the palacial theater; thousands of tourists visit the site annually."
todmsg[2121]="Mansard, gambrel, hip, gable, and lean-to are types of roofs on buildings."
todmsg[2122]="Many of the Vatican’s museums were never intended to be museums at all, but were designed instead as unique apartments or residences. As a result, visitors must work their way through the numerous blind passages and bottlenecks that contain many of the most beautiful works housed in the museums."
todmsg[2123]="McMusic in Naples is the first McDonald's restaurant in the world featuring music. It is outfitted with a Dolby Surround System, 380 seats on three floors (one entirely dedicated to children), a maxi-screen for musical video clips, and more. There are more than 230 McDonald’s restaurants in Italy."
todmsg[2124]="Monterey Bay Aquarium in northern California houses the Mysteries of the Deep exhibit, the world's largest living exhibit of deep sea animals, featuring catsharks, predatory tunicates, ratfish, and other species from the mile-deep Monterey Canyon."
todmsg[2125]="In October 1994, Jeff Bezos wanted to name his new Web venture \"Cadabra\" – as in \"abracadabra.\" But his attorney convinced him that this magical moniker sounder a bit too much like \"cadaver.\" Reluctantly, Bezos went with his second choice: Amazon.com."
todmsg[2126]="In Rome, the world's first paved streets were laid out in 170 B.C. The new streets were popular as they were functional in all types of weather and were easier to keep clean, but they amplified the city's noise level."
todmsg[2127]="In Saudi Arabia there are solar-powered pay phones in the desert."
todmsg[2128]="In the military world, EGADS is an acronym for Electronic Ground Automatic Destruct System."
todmsg[2129]="In the United States, Mercedes-Benzs of the 1920s and 1930s were very popular. With the exception of Rolls-Royce, more were imported into the United States than any other foreign car at the time. The first Mercedes classic was the \"K\" series, begun in 1924 and produced until 1927."
todmsg[2130]="In the United States, people play on their home computers more in the East and work more on them in the South and West, according to a survey from the NPD Group, Inc. market researchers."
todmsg[2131]="In the United States, the standard width between railroad tracks is 4 feet, 8½ inches."
todmsg[2132]=" In web site addresses on the Internet, \"http\" stands for \"hypertext transfer protocol.\""
todmsg[2133]="The six official languages of the United Nations are English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish."
todmsg[2134]="The hairless area of roughened skin at the tip of a bear's snout is called the rhinarium."
todmsg[2135]="The words CHOICE COD read the same when held in front of a mirror upside-down. This also applies to the word DIOXIDE."
todmsg[2136]="The slang term for a dollar, \"buck,\" likely came about in the early U.S. frontier days when the skin of a male deer (a buck) was a common currency."
todmsg[2137]="The Hawaiian alphabet contains just 12 letters;the Cambodian alphabet has 72 letters."
todmsg[2138]="Something freckled can be said to be \"lentiginous.\""
todmsg[2139]="The world's longest-named lake has 45 letters."
todmsg[2140]="The slang word \"yahoo\" first appeared in Swift's 1726 book Gulliver’s Travels as the name of a race of sub-human brutes."
todmsg[2141]="Kittens are born both blind and deaf, but the vibration of their mother's purring is a physical signal that the kittens can feel - it acts like a homing device, signaling them to nurse."
todmsg[2142]="Each eye of the chameleon is independent of the other. The lizard can watch and study two totally different pictures at the same time."
todmsg[2143]="Researchers don't know why killer whales like to rub their sensitive stomachs on the bottom of shallow beaches, but they think it may be a form of grooming. "
todmsg[2144]="Kittens can clock an amazing 31 mile per hour at full speed, and can cover about three times their body length per leap."
todmsg[2145]="Eagles mate while airborne."
todmsg[2146]="Researchers have determined that the elephant seals off the Baja coast dive deeper than whales – sometimes as deep as a mile."
todmsg[2147]="Koalas and humans are the only animals with unique prints. Koala prints cannot be distinguished from human fingerprints."
todmsg[2148]="Earlier penguins were capable of flight."
todmsg[2149]="Steven Spielberg originally approached Roman Polanski about directing Schindler's List, but Polanski said he found the material too personal and painful."
todmsg[2150]="Legendary sportscaster Red Barber masterfully handled the commentary for the first baseball broadcast when NBC televised the inaugural game in 1939."
todmsg[2151]="When he was 15, Sylvester Stallone’s high school classmates voted him the one \"most likely to end up in the electric chair.\""
todmsg[2152]="Stevie Wonder was 11 years old when he signed his first record contract with Motown."
todmsg[2153]="Leonard Gary Oldman dropped his first name before he became a film star."
todmsg[2154]="When he was just 10 years old, future comedian and film star Jim Carrey sent his résumé to Carol Burnett."
todmsg[2155]="Stockard Channing (Grease, The West Wing) earned a B.A. in American history and literature in 1965 from Radcliffe College. She graduated summa cum laude."
todmsg[2156]="Liam Neeson was attending Queens College in Belfast to become a teacher, when he changed his mind and decided to become an actor."
todmsg[2157]="The canopy, or top layer of trees, is home to most of the animals and insects that live in the rainforest."
todmsg[2158]="The carnation is native to the Mediterranean area."
todmsg[2159]="The cashew tree is native to Brazil and other tropical areas in Central and South America."
todmsg[2160]="When energy is used, it doesn't disappear; it merely goes elsewhere or is changed into another form."
todmsg[2161]="When out hiking or camping, you can determine how much daylight is left by holding your fist up to the western horizon. Stack your fists on top of one another up to the Sun’s level in the sky. Each fist represents about an hour of remaining daylight."
todmsg[2162]="The cashew tree is related to the American poison ivy and poison sumac."
todmsg[2163]="Papaya leaves and unripe papaya have an enzyme called papain that breaks down protein in meat to make it tender. That’s why papaya can be used as a meat tenderizer."
todmsg[2164]="In ancient times, parsley wreaths were used to ward off drunkenness."
todmsg[2165]="The edible fruit of a passion flower is called a maypop."
todmsg[2166]="Paper can be made from asparagus."
todmsg[2167]="In Australia, the Number 1 topping for pizza is eggs. In Chile, the favorite topping is mussels and clams. In the United States, it's pepperoni."
todmsg[2168]="The eggplant has many names worldwide. In addition to \"eggplant,\" it is called aubergine, brinjal, melanzana, garden egg, and patlican."
todmsg[2169]="Parsley is a common herb of the Mediterranean area and was well known to the ancient Greeks. They considered it too sacred to eat. Romans did serve it as a garnish and to improve the taste of food. They believed it had special powers and would keep them sober."
todmsg[2170]="In Australia, the popular McOz Burger combines 100 percent Australian beef, cheese, tomato, beetroot, lettuce, and cooked onions on a toasted bun. This burger was created by Australian McDonald's restaurant owners, and became a permanent menu item after a successful promotional period in 1998."
todmsg[2171]="Washington, D.C. was the first American city planned for a specific purpose. It was designed by Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, to be a beautiful city with wide streets and many trees. The district was originally a 10-mile square crossing the Potomac River into Virginia. The Virginia part of the district was given back to Virginia in 1846."
todmsg[2172]="Washington, D.C., is the birthplace of many celebrities, including David Birney, Blair Brown, Connie Chung, Matt Frewer, Goldie Hawn, Al Gore, John Heard, Edward Hermann, William Hurt, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Michael Learned, Roger Mudd, Maury Povich, Chita Rivera, Pete Sampras, and Peter Tork."
todmsg[2173]="The United States was waging the Mexican War when gold was discovered in California. In fact, California was officially still Mexican territory at the time."
todmsg[2174]="So highly prized were emeralds by the ancients, the Incas had an emerald goddess."
todmsg[2175]="Socrates, Nero, Mark Anthony, Cleopatra, Vincent van Gogh, and Adolf Hitler all committed suicide."
todmsg[2176]="Socrates, one of the most famous Greek philosophers, never wrote down a single word of his teachings. The only knowledge we have of his thinking today comes from the notes taken by his great student, Plato."
todmsg[2177]="The United States’ celebrated its first birthday on July 4, 1777, in Philadelphia. Ships lined up in the Delaware River discharged 13 cannon shots in honor of the 13 new states."
todmsg[2178]="The United States’ Declaration of Independence was enacted on July 4, 1776. The British government refused to accept the document."
todmsg[2179]="The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, began with a modest thirty-four investigators in 1908. Later, it became the powerful force that it is today, currently employing more than 12,000 agents across the United States."
todmsg[2180]="Soldiers arrived to fight the Battle of Marne in World War I — not on foot or by military airplane or military vehicle — but by taxi cabs. France took over all the taxi cabs in Paris to get soldiers to the front."
todmsg[2181]="In Bulgaria, bright red colored eggs are a symbol of Easter, which are cracked after the Easter midnight service. One egg is cracked on the wall of the church, and this is the first egg eaten after the Bulgarians' long Great Fast. The ritual of cracking the eggs takes place before the Easter lunch. Each person selects an egg, and each takes a turn tapping their egg against the eggs of others. The person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck."
todmsg[2182]="In England, Alexandra Rose Day, June 26 was designated in honor of Alexandra, the daughter of King Christian IV of Denmark, who married Prince Albert (later King Edward VII)."
todmsg[2183]="In England, May 29th was traditionally Oak Apple Day, which commemorated the restoration of Charles II, who hid in an oak tree to avoid capture from the rebels."
todmsg[2184]="In fourth-century France, it was believed that if on Easter Day, following the 40 days of mandated fasting (carême), the first thing eaten was an egg that had been laid on Good Friday, that person would be protected from illness until the following Easter."
todmsg[2185]="In Japan, St. Valentine's Day is a day when women give the special men in their lives boxes of chocolate. To balance this practice, White Day was invented by the confectionery industry for men to reciprocate such gifts. While Valentine's Day is an imported event, White Day, celebrated one month later on March 14, is purely a Japanese creation."
todmsg[2186]="In many countries, it is the custom to wish friends a \"Happy Birthday\" on January 1st, rather than a \"Happy New Year.\" This day is nicknamed \"Everyman's Birthday,\" and is considered the day when everyone becomes a year older, whether it's their actual day of birth or not. Similarly, this practice is observed in horse racing. No matter when a race horse is born, they all \"become\" a year older on New Year's Day."
todmsg[2187]="In Mexico, Día de la Madre – Mother's Day – is celebrated the day before it's observed in the United States. It is a huge gala event, with mariachis starting at noon and family festivities throughout the day."
todmsg[2188]="In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch counterparts, however, use shoes. Dutch children set out shoes to receive gifts any time between mid-November and December 5, St. Nicholas' birthday."
todmsg[2189]="There are 230 joints in the human body."
todmsg[2190]="The average person takes from twelve to eighteen breaths per minute."
todmsg[2191]="The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night."
todmsg[2192]="The average person's field of vision encompasses a 200-degree wide angle."
todmsg[2193]="There are 3 million stutterers in the United States and a similar proportion in every other part of the world."
todmsg[2194]="There are 35 million digestive glands in the stomach."
todmsg[2195]="There are 62,000 miles of arteries, capillaries, and veins in the adult human body."
todmsg[2196]="The average person's hair will grow approximately 590 inches in a lifetime."
todmsg[2197]="The total weight of insects on earth is 12 times the weight of all people."
todmsg[2198]="The venom of a female black widow spider is more potent than that of a rattlesnake."
todmsg[2199]="The venom of the Africanized honeybee is no more toxic than that of the common honeybee's."
todmsg[2200]="The world’s smallest butterfly is the Pygmy Blue. Its wingspan ranges between three-eighths to one-half inch in length."
todmsg[2201]="There are 142,000 recognized species of moths, and thousands more yet to be discovered."
todmsg[2202]="There are 4,000 species of earthworms alive on Earth."
todmsg[2203]="There are 4,300 known species of ladybug in the world."
todmsg[2204]="There are 5 million different species of insects in the world. The insect population of the world is at least 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. The weight of the world's insect population exceeds that of humankind by a factor of twelve."
todmsg[2205]="In Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, it is customary for the streets to be blocked off on Christmas Eve so that the people can rollerskate to church."
todmsg[2206]="In central Australia, it was once the custom for balding Aranda Aborigines to wear wigs made of emu feathers."
todmsg[2207]="In China, the chirp of a cricket has always been popular, even with the emperors. There is a tradition of keeping cages of crickets in the house because of this popularity."
todmsg[2208]="In Clarendon, Texas, there is reportedly a law on the books that lawyers must accept eggs, chickens, or other produce, as well as money, as payment of legal fees."
todmsg[2209]="In colonial America, tobacco was acceptable legal tender in several Southern colonies, and in Virginia, taxes were paid in tobacco."
todmsg[2210]="Centuries ago in London, someone drinking at a tavern had the legal right to demand to see the wine cellar to verify that the wine hadn't been watered down. Refusal by the taverner could result in severe penalties, including time in prison."
todmsg[2211]="Challenging the U.S. law prohiting women from voting, Susan B. Anthony was arrested for trying to vote on November 5, 1875."
todmsg[2212]="Circus showman P.T. Barnum created a spectacle when he hitched an elephant to a plow beside the train tracks to announce that his circus had come to town. As a result, Barnum attracted many newsmen and the public, but it became soon thereafter, and still remains, illegal in North Carolina to plow a field with an elephant."
todmsg[2213]="Nero and Henry VIII were both relatively good rulers when they assumed power, but both became bloodstained tyrants. Each killed a philosopher who had been a good influence: Nero compelled Seneca to commit suicide and Henry ordered Thomas Moore beheaded."
todmsg[2214]="King Charles VIII of France, who ascended to the throne in 1483, was obsessed with the idea of being poisoned. As his phobia grew, the monarch ate so little that he died of malnutrition, circa 1498."
todmsg[2215]="In the Swahili culture, the day starts at sunrise which, in East Africa, being exactly at the equator, happens every day at approximately 6:00 a.m. For that reason, 6:00 a.m. is 0:00 a.m. Swahili time."
todmsg[2216]="A kibei is a native U.S. citizen born of immigrant Japanese parents but educated largely in Japan."
todmsg[2217]="Newton estimated correctly that Earth had a mass of 6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons and a density of about five-and-a-half times that of water. The fact wasn't demonstrated until one century after his estimate."
todmsg[2218]="King Edward VII was the first British monarch to tour America."
todmsg[2219]="In the United States, Evelyn is considered a girl's name, but both boys and girls in England are given the name."
todmsg[2220]="Hippocrates, considered the \"Father of Medicine,\" once suggested a woman with a flat bustline could enlarge it by singing loudly and often."
todmsg[2221]="If one were to capture and bottle a comet's 10,000-mile vapor trail, the amount of vapor actually present in the bottle would take up less than 1 cubic inch of space."
todmsg[2222]="If our whole galaxy were the size of a quarter, our solar system would be smaller than the size of a molecule. Other galaxies would be from a foot to 1,000 feet away."
todmsg[2223]="If the Milky Way Galaxy was the size of the U.S.A., Earth would be far smaller than the smallest particle of dust, barely visible through the most powerful microscopes."
todmsg[2224]="If the Moon were placed on the surface of the continental United States, it would extend from San Francisco to Cleveland (2,600 miles)."
todmsg[2225]="If the Sun were as wide as a man was tall, Betelgeuse, the biggest known star, would be as wide a three Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other."
todmsg[2226]="If the world were to become totally flat and the oceans distributed themselves evenly over the earth's surface, the water would be approximately 2 miles deep at every point."
todmsg[2227]="Ancient Chinese astronomers first observed sunspots about 2,000 years ago. Westerners took quite a while to catch up, first writing of the dark blotches 1,700 years later, and erroneously believing them to be small planets."
todmsg[2228]="Antarctica has been used as a testing laboratory for the joint United States-Soviet Union mission to Mars because it has much in common with the red planet."
todmsg[2229]="On the professional golf tour, players are allotted 45 seconds per shot."
todmsg[2230]="One out of every 400 Americans, or 600,000 Americans, are members of B.A.S.S., the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society."
todmsg[2231]="Famous personalities who play badminton include Paul Newman, Diego Maradonna, and Nick Faldo."
todmsg[2232]="Foil, épée, and sabre are the three weapons used in the sport of fencing."
todmsg[2233]="For golfing enthusiasts, Maricopa County in Arizona boasts the most golf courses in the country with a reported 168, followed by Palm Beach County in Florida with 150 and Riverside County in California with 145."
todmsg[2234]="For many centuries, billiard balls were made out of ivory."
todmsg[2235]="Former track champion Grete Waitz won the London Marathon in 1983 and 1986, and the New York marathon a record nine times between 1978 and 1988. She has also been the women's cross-country champion five times."
todmsg[2236]="Four players compete on an equestrian polo team. Seven compete on a water polo team."
todmsg[2237]="The Roman Catholic population of the world is larger than that of all other Christian sects combined."
todmsg[2238]="The average American will eat 35,000 cookies during their life span."
todmsg[2239]="Nearly one-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year. More than 90 million people survive on less than $75 a year."
todmsg[2240]="The shortest human we have documented evidence on was Pauline Musters of the Netherlands. She measured 12 inches at her birth in 1876, and was 23 inches tall with a weight of 9 pounds at her death in 1885."
todmsg[2241]="The average American's diet today consists of 55 percent junk food."
todmsg[2242]="New York City has 155 museums and 400 art galleries. The most prestigious museums in New York are The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, The Frick Collection, The Museum of the City of New York, and The National Academy of Design."
todmsg[2243]="The smallest book in the Library of Congress is Old King Cole. It is 1/25 of an inch by 1/25 of an inch. The pages can only be turned with the use of a needle."
todmsg[2244]="The average annual salary of United States photographers in 1995 was only $12,000."
todmsg[2245]="Montreal's Olympic Stadium was originally supposed to cost $120 million, but flawed workmanship and a poor design, among other problems, will see the price tag balloon to about $3 billion by the time it's paid off in 2006."
todmsg[2246]="More than 5,600 men died while building the Panama Canal. Today, it takes more than 8,000 workers to operate and maintain the canal. It takes a ship an average of 33 hours to travel the length of the canal."
todmsg[2247]="Most roofs in the Washington, D.C. area are designed to withstand at least 15 to 20 pounds of snow per square foot."
todmsg[2248]="Mount Auburn in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was the first major cemetery in the United States not connected to a church or parish. It was established in 1831."
todmsg[2249]="Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, is home to the largest mustard museum in the world, housing 1,493 different varieties from Argentina to Switzerland and 48 of the U.S. states. Of yellow mustard alone, the museum has about 200 varieties."
todmsg[2250]="Constructed under second base in the old Yankee Stadium there was a 15-foot-deep brick-lined vault, containing electrical, telephone, and telegraph connections for boxing events."
todmsg[2251]="Construction on the Berlin Wall began in 1961."
todmsg[2252]="Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian nations. It is home to the first Legoland, a 10-hectare theme park built from plastic Lego blocks, and is Denmark's most-visited attraction outside of Copenhagen. The most elaborate reconstruction at Legoland is the three-million-block Port of Copenhagen exhibit, which features electronically controlled ships, trains, and cranes."
todmsg[2253]="In years past, spermaceti oil – from the sperm whale – was used as transmission oil in Rolls-Royce automobiles."
todmsg[2254]="Individual people, rather than publishers, generate most of the world’s original material. For instance, about 2,7000 photographs around the world are taken every second."
todmsg[2255]="Computer viruses are bits of software code that either overwrite or attach themselves to programs and replicate themselves. While some are merely annoying, taking up valuable disk space, others can wipe out an entire hard drive. If the Michelangelo virus is on your computer, it activates on March 6, the artist's birthday. Viruses were first discovered in the late 1980s, and since that time, IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center has collected more than 10,000. It is estimated that six to nine new viruses are found daily. About 1,200 computer viruses are in circulation."
todmsg[2256]="Computers and hard drives aren't as fragile as they were a few years ago, but you're asking for trouble if you move your PC around while it is running. While your computer is running, its hard disk is very vulnerable. A tiny magnet literally floats less than a hair's breadth above a platter where data is stored. A minor bump can send the magnet skittering into the disk's surface. The damage can't be repaired. Not only will you need a new hard disk, but you'll likely lose the information the disk held."
todmsg[2257]="Cooking and salad oils could lubricate machinery, such as cars and boats, according to Penn State chemical engineers. Tests found that when blended with an additive developed at Penn State, some vegetable oils perform as well as or better than commercial oils."
todmsg[2258]="Dating back to the 1600s, thermometers were filled with brandy instead of mercury."
todmsg[2259]="Despite the outcry from some anti-gambling lawmakers over the explosion of gambling on the Internet, fewer than one percent of American adults had used the Internet for gambling within the year of 1999."
todmsg[2260]="Developed in 1950 by the then-called Zenith Radio Corporation, the first TV remote control was christened \"Lazy Bones.\" Lazy Bones used a cable that ran from the TV set to the viewer."
todmsg[2261]="The Incas and certain other pre-Columbian tribes in Peru developed the decimal system hundreds of years before it was used in Europe."
todmsg[2262]="Something or someone that uses two languages, or is bilingual, can be said to be \"diglot.\""
todmsg[2263]="Theodore Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to deliver an inaugural address without using the word \"I.\" Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower tied for second place, using \"I\" only once in their inaugural addresses."
todmsg[2264]="The small magnifying glass used by jewelers and diamond dealers is called a loupe."
todmsg[2265]="The Japanese gave us the term \"honcho,\" meaning big shot. Hancho means \"squad commander\" in Japanese."
todmsg[2266]="Something that has a sharp-pointed tail, such as certain birds, can be described as \"oxyurous.\""
todmsg[2267]="There are 293 different ways to make change for a dollar."
todmsg[2268]="The Spanish names for hummingbirds are very descriptive of their behavior: Chupaflor - which means flower-sucker and Picaflor - which means flower nibbler"
todmsg[2269]="Koalas are marsupials, not bears. They also have no tail or eyelids."
todmsg[2270]="Electric eels are not really eels but a kind of fish. Although they look like eels, their internal organs are arranged differently."
todmsg[2271]="Koi and other popular pond fish can survive in 38-degree water. As long as the water is not frozen, the fish will be unaffected."
todmsg[2272]="Elephant herds post their own sentries. When danger threatens, the sentry raises its trunk and though it may be as far as a half-mile away, the rest of the herd is instantly alerted. how this communication takes place is not understood."
todmsg[2273]="Elephant seals molt every year."
todmsg[2274]="Riding camels are most often female."
todmsg[2275]="Rocky Mountain bighorn rams have a double-layer skull. This allows them to absorb the extraordinary impact of head-butting with other rams without suffering brain or head injury. The winner of a head-butting contest gains control of the bighorn herd."
todmsg[2276]="Stockard Channing's birth name was Susan Williams Antonia Stockard. In the 1960s, she was married to business executive and venture capitalist Walter Channing, Jr."
todmsg[2277]="Liv Tyler was named after film actress Liv Ullmann because she was reportedly on the cover of TV Guide the week baby Liv was born. She's the daughter of Aerosmith lead singer Steve Tyler and Bibi Buell."
todmsg[2278]="Strangely enough, comedian Jim Carrey, who portrayed late comedian Andy Kaufman in the film Man on the Moon, and Andy Kaufman were both born on January 17th."
todmsg[2279]="Lloyd Vernet Bridges III is the birth name of actor Beau Bridges. He was given the nickname \"Beau\" by his family – reportedly after Ashley Wilkes's son in the classic 1939 film Gone With the Wind."
todmsg[2280]="Lucy Lawless was the fifth child born in a family of seven children."
todmsg[2281]="Lushly filmed in black and white, William Wyler's moving Mrs. Miniver (1942) captured the hearts of audiences around the world. It was nominated for twelve Oscars and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for its star Greer Garson, and Best Supporting Actress for ingenue Teresa Wright. Sir Winston Churchill declared that the World War II drama, set in England and following the lives of a middle-class British family, had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers."
todmsg[2282]="When in a movie theater, if there is a balcony, never sit underneath – that's a low sound frequency trap. According to a Sony Cinema Products Corp. representative, there’s a \"sweet\" spot, where the sound is better than anyplace else in the movie theater. To find it, you should look for the speakers and position yourself in between them – usually about three-quarters of the way back from the movie screen."
todmsg[2283]="When Mrs. New Jersey heard her name announced as Mrs. America 1952, she passed out cold on-stage. It took panicked pageant officials several minutes to revive her."
todmsg[2284]="When viewed from above, rainbows are doughnut-shaped."
todmsg[2285]="The cirrus cloud, the highest type of cloud in altitude, contains extremely cold water at -31° Fahrenheit."
todmsg[2286]="While diamonds are usually considered the most precious of stones, a large, near flawless emerald is worth considerably more than a diamond of the same size."
todmsg[2287]="The Coco de mer, or double coconut palm of the Seychelles, bears the largest seed in the plant kingdom, weighing up to 60 pounds."
todmsg[2288]="While it snows heavily in Minneapolis, snowfall is greater in the Grand Canyon."
todmsg[2289]="The core of a upward lightning stroke is only a few inches across but can carry a current of 100,000 amperes, enough to run nearly 8,000 electric toasters at the same time."
todmsg[2290]="The deadliest plant in the world is the castor bean plant. It is estimated that the protein, ricin, found in the castor bean plant is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide."
todmsg[2291]="Peanut butter accounts for more than 50 percent of all peanut consumption in the United States."
todmsg[2292]="In Australian slang, a container for boiling tea is called a billy."
todmsg[2293]="Peanut oil is used for underwater cooking in submarines. Undersea fleets like it because it does not smoke unless heated above 450° F."
todmsg[2294]="In British India, a \"tiffin\" is a light lunch."
todmsg[2295]="In cooked poultry, bones that have dark splotches merely indicate that the bird has been frozen. When poultry is frozen, the blood in the bone marrow ruptures. Upon thawing, the ruptured cells leak, which causes the discoloration. Cooking turns the red splotches dark brown."
todmsg[2296]="In cooking, the term chiffonade means to slice into very thin strips or shreds. Literally translated from French, chiffonade means \"made of rags.\""
todmsg[2297]="The eggplant was domesticated in Southeast Asia more than 4,000 years ago. It belongs to the same family as the poisonous deadly nightshade (as do potatoes, tomatoes, and petunias). In the Middle East and then in Europe, doctors blamed it for all sorts of things, from epilepsy to cancer. In the fifth century, Chinese women made a black dye from the eggplant skins to stain and polish their teeth. And some people in medieval Europe considered eggplant an aphrodisiac."
todmsg[2298]="The Egyptians ate mustard by tossing the seeds into their mouths while chewing meat."
todmsg[2299]="Wisconsin is referred to as the \"Badger State\" because its state animal is the badger.<br><br>Wisconsin reportedly has the highest proportion of overweight citizens in America."
todmsg[2300]="With nearly ten million visitors in 1998, the beautiful and impressive Great Smoky Mountains National Park drew nearly twice the number of visitors as the second most-visited park, the Grand Canyon, with nearly five million visitors."
todmsg[2301]="Within northern California's Humboldt Redwoods State Park's 53,000 acres, there are more than 17,000 acres of old-growth forest. Rockefeller Forest, close beside Bull Creek and the Eel River, is one of the largest remaining tracts of contiguous uncut coast redwood forest in the world."
todmsg[2302]="Wonder World Park is a Texas Historical Site, and the most-visited cave in the state. Guided tours trek through the nation's only earthquake-formed cave. Following the tours, visitors exit the cave by elevator and catch a breathtaking view of the fault line's drop-off point from atop the Tejas Observation Tower. Wonder World Park also offers the largest petting park in Texas."
todmsg[2303]="Yuma, Arizona, has the most sun of any locale in the United States – it averages sunny skies 332 days a year."
todmsg[2304]="The veil worn by a bride originally symbolized the bride's virginity, innocence, and modesty. The veil can be traced back to ancient Roman times when it was a complete head-to-toe cover. It was later used as her burial shroud."
todmsg[2305]="Someone maliciously shouted \"Fire!\" at a copper miners' Christmas party in Calumet, Michigan, in 1913. Panic ensued and 72 lives — mostly children's — were lost."
todmsg[2306]="The Victoria Cross is the highest award for valour in the British armed forces. Of 182 awarded during World War II, 88 were awarded posthumously."
todmsg[2307]="South Africa ordered 100,000 nonwhite people to leave their homes within one year to make room for whites on August 25, 1956."
todmsg[2308]="The Vietnam Memorial was dedicated by Ronald Reagan."
todmsg[2309]="South Korean President Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize on October 13, 2000, for his efforts toward reconciliation with North Korea that have prompted hopes for peace on the Cold War's last frontier."
todmsg[2310]="The wages paid by the Ford auto company were much higher than those paid by other automobile companies. In 1914, Ford paid workers who were age 22 or older $5 per day – double the average wage offered by other car factories. "
todmsg[2311]="St. Bernard of Menthon, who built way stations for tired medieval travelers in the Alps, is the patron saint of mountain climbers. The dog breed was also named for St. Bernard."
todmsg[2312]="There are twelve courses in the Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper. According to the Christian tradition, each course is dedicated to one of Christ's apostles."
todmsg[2313]="Today, the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich begins with a parade that makes its way to the Schottenhammel tent, the oldest private tent at the Oktoberfest. By tradition, the mayor of Munich taps the first barrel of beer, and announces to the crowd, \"O'zapft is!\" (\"The keg is tapped!\")"
todmsg[2314]="U.S. military service veterans have organized groups such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. On Veterans' Day and Memorial Day, these groups raise funds for their charities by selling paper poppies made by disabled veterans. This bright red wildflower became a symbol after the horrific WWI battle in Flanders Field in Belgium. The field, littered with the bodies of young soldiers, was also filled with poppies."
todmsg[2315]="Valentine's Day means chocolate, and lots of it. According to U.S. candy manufacturers, Americans spend more than $1,105 million each Valentine's Day on candy, making it the fourth biggest holiday of the year for confectionery purchases. In order, the top three holidays for candy sales are Halloween, Christmas, and Easter."
todmsg[2316]="Vegetable oil or petroleum jelly should be rubbed onto the fresh-cut edges of a pumpkin to delay shriveling after it is carved into a Halloween jack-o'-lantern. Premature shrinkage can also be prevented by soaking the pumpkin in water. Place it in something big enough to submerge it completely, and it will absorb some of the water that’s been lost. However, it will likely crack if set to soak longer than eight hours."
todmsg[2317]="While many Japanese customs are disappearing, the practice of sending New Year's cards and seasonal gifts called O-chugen and O-seibo is as strong as ever. The Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications delivered nearly 4.5 billion New Year's cards in 1999, or about 32 cards for every man, woman, and child in Japan."
todmsg[2318]="There are about 2 million sweat glands in the average human body. The average adult loses 540 calories with every liter of sweat. Men sweat about 40 percent more than women."
todmsg[2319]="The average person's hand flexes its finger joints 25 million times during a lifetime."
todmsg[2320]="There are approximately 250,000 sweat glands in your feet, and they sweat as much as 8 ounces of moisture per day."
todmsg[2321]="The average person's total skin covering would weigh about 6 pounds if collected in one mass."
todmsg[2322]="There are eight bones in a human wrist."
todmsg[2323]="The average square inch of skin holds 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels, 60,000 melanocytes (pigment cells), and more than a thousand nerve endings."
todmsg[2324]="There are four blood groups for humans: A (the most common), O, B, and AB. Collectively, they are referred to ABO groups or \"factors.\""
todmsg[2325]="The average time between blinks of the eye is 2.8 seconds."
todmsg[2326]="There are 600 known species of scorpion."
todmsg[2327]="There are 80 cricket species in Florida."
todmsg[2328]="There are about 2,500 different species of horsefly in the world."
todmsg[2329]="There are earthworms as short as one twenty-fifth of an inch and earthworms as long as 11 feet. The earthworm has no lungs; it breathes through its skin. Some earthworms have as many as ten hearts."
todmsg[2330]="There are eighteen species of yellowjackets in North America."
todmsg[2331]="There are locusts that have an adult lifespan of only a few weeks, after having lived in the ground as grubs for 15 years."
todmsg[2332]="There are more beetles on Earth than any other living creature. The number of species alone is nearly a quarter-million."
todmsg[2333]="There are more different kinds of insects in existence today than the total of all types of other animals put together."
todmsg[2334]="Congress passed a law prohibiting American vessels from supplying slaves to other countries on March 22, 1794."
todmsg[2335]="Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia on February 20, 1839."
todmsg[2336]="Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the Eighteenth Amendment: Prohibition."
todmsg[2337]="Contrary to many reports, the Eisenhower Interstate System does NOT require that one mile in every five must be straight in the United States. The claim that these straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies does not exist in any federal legislation. Korea and Sweden DO use some of their roads as military air strips."
todmsg[2338]="Courts of law in the United States devote about half their time to cases involving automobiles."
todmsg[2339]="Dancing to the \"Star-Spangled Banner\" is against the law in several American states."
todmsg[2340]="Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors."
todmsg[2341]="In December 1997, the state of Nevada became the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as \"acts of God\" – protecting the state from lawsuits that may potentially be brought against it by residents in the year 2000."
todmsg[2342]="Nikolai Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, was the first person to comprehend that planets move around the sun."
todmsg[2343]="In the winter of 1724, while on an outing at sea, Peter the Great of Russia caught sight of a foundering ship, jumped in the water, and helped in the rescue. He caught cold, suffered from high fever, and died several weeks later."
todmsg[2344]="Historians believe that Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, was a redhead."
todmsg[2345]="Noah Webster mortgaged his house to finance the second edition of his dictionary."
todmsg[2346]="Lady Diana Spencer was the first common Englishwoman in 300 years to marry an heir to the British throne."
todmsg[2347]="In the year 1780, John Hannon, with the financial help of Dr. James Baker, started the first chocolate factory in the U.S. in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Dr. Baker later founded Baker's Chocolate."
todmsg[2348]="Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer living about 200 B.C., reportedly was the first person to declare that the Earth revolved around the Sun. His theory was disregarded for hundreds of years."
todmsg[2349]="Arthur C. Clarke, in 1959, made a bet that the first man to land on the moon would do so by June 1969. United States' astronauts landed July 20, 1969."
todmsg[2350]="As an astronomical observing site, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is ideal. Its atmosphere above the mountain is extremely dry, important in measuring infrared and submillimeter celestial radiation. It is also cloud-free. Its proportion of clear nights is among the highest in the world."
todmsg[2351]="As of 1978, there were approximately 4,500 pieces of equipment revolving around the earth. About 900 of these pieces were satellites, and the rest were added bits of debris."
todmsg[2352]="As of May 2000, forty planets outside our solar system have been discovered since 1995. Most of these planets are as large as or larger than Jupiter, our solar system’s biggest planet. Only three have been found smaller than Saturn, the second largest planet orbiting our Sun."
todmsg[2353]="As recently as half a century ago, there was no clear understanding as to why the Sun shines. The discovery that it is due to nuclear-fusion reactions was not made until the 1930s, by Hans Beth and Carl von Weizsacker."
todmsg[2354]="Asteroids smaller than 600 feet across entering Earth’s atmosphere burn away and lose most of their energy before hitting our planet. But even these smaller objects can cause devastation. A small asteroid exploded in the air in 1908 near the Tunguska River in Siberia. The resulting shock wave flattened 800 square miles of forest. The detonation's force was estimated to have been 1,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb."
todmsg[2355]="Astronaut and moon-walker James Irwin's NASA name tag, coated with lunar dust, sold at auction for $310,500. The cloth keepsake, a 6- by 12-inch rectangle, was cut from the insulated jacket worn by Irwin during the 1971 flight of Apollo 15. Lunar dust, which created a dark gray tint around the tag's edges, became embedded into the tag during three separate moonwalks Irwin took. His jacket and other equipment were left on the Moon to lighten the spacecraft’s load on the return trip home, but Irwin cut out and kept his NASA tag as a memento."
todmsg[2356]="Generally, right-handed archers shoot arrows that turn clockwise. Left-handers' arrows generally turn counterclockwise."
todmsg[2357]="Gertrude Ederle was still a teenager when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel on August 6, 1926. Not only did she swim the channel, but she broke the speed record held by a man."
todmsg[2358]="Golf was banned in England and Scotland in 1457 by King James II because he claimed it distracted people from the archery practice necessary for national defense."
todmsg[2359]="Golfer Arnold Palmer was the first person to make $1 million playing golf."
todmsg[2360]="Visitors to Acapulco must make a point of seeing the famed cliff divers, who perform their daily dives at La Quebrada, and have since 1934."
todmsg[2361]="Volleyball was invented in a Holyoke, Massachusetts YMCA in 1895. Its inventor was William George Morgan. The game was first called \"mintonette\" and was played by hitting a basketball over a rope."
todmsg[2362]="Persons that engage in solitary endurance sports are the ones most likely to be compulsive exercisers — for example, joggers, long-distance swimmers, weight-lifters, and cross-country skiers. Occasionally, devotees of these activities set unrealistic, ambitious goals and then drive themselves mercilessly to reach them. A study of New York marathoners a few years ago found that their divorce rate — male and female — was twice the national average."
todmsg[2363]="Wellington College, which was founded in 1853 and specialized in educating the sons of soldiers, was quick to adopt its own set of colors for its sports teams. Its rugby team played in orange-and-black striped jerseys, while its cricket team sported light-blue caps piped with yellow — colors taken, curiously but appropriately, from the ribbon of the Crimean War medal."
todmsg[2364]="New York City has the largest black population of any city in the United States. It is followed by Chicago and Philadelphia."
todmsg[2365]="The smallest post office in the country is an 8-foot by 7-foot converted shed that serves the 200 families living in and around Ochopee, Florida, ZIP code 33843."
todmsg[2366]="The average bra size sold at Frederick's of Hollywood in 1966 was a 34B. Today, it's a 36C."
todmsg[2367]="New York City, named by Americans as the most dangerous, least attractive, and rudest city in a recent poll, is also, strangely enough, Americans’ top choice as the city where they would most like to live or visit on vacation."
todmsg[2368]="The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words. More than 2 billion pencils are manufactured in the U.S. annually. If these were laid end to end, they would circle the earth nine times."
todmsg[2369]="New Zealand has an estimated population of 3,800,000, which is nearly a million less than the much smaller U.S. state of Arizona, with a 1997 estimated population of 4,595,000."
todmsg[2370]="Ninety percent of U.S. households have at lease one remote control for the television; 8 out of 10 report losing it."
todmsg[2371]="The sound of a snore (up to 69 decibels) can be almost as loud as a pneumatic drill (70-90 decibels)."
todmsg[2372]="Designed by renowned architect I. M. Pei, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opened in Cleveland in 1995. The ultra-modern building has an area of 150,000 square feet."
todmsg[2373]="Dodger Stadium had no drinking-water fountains when it was first built."
todmsg[2374]="During the 1940s, Alex Jordan discovered a 60-foot chimney of rock in the pristine Wyoming Valley in Wisconsin. He built a weekend retreat house on the sandstone formation called Deer Shelter Rock. Word about his natural discovery spread, and people came in droves to see his architectural wonder. Jordan was surprised and overwhelmed by the constant public attention, and started asking for 50 cent donations. In time, his 14-room house on the rock evolved into a complex of sixteen buildings, countless exhibits, and breathtaking outdoor garden displays with waterfalls. About 100,000 flowers are landscaped at The House on the Rock, as it was named. The popular tourist site now houses fascinating exhibits, including the world’s largest carousel and more than 6,000 Santa Clauses during the Christmas season."
todmsg[2375]="During the seventeenth century in India, King Muhammed Adil Shah had an enormous monument, the Gol Gumbaz, built in Bijapur, Karnataka. Crowning the monument was a gigantic, 178-foot-thick dome, completely unsupported by pillars. Today, tourists can climb the spiral stone staircase and stand near one of four black stones in the structure, then whisper into one of the stones to a companion standing near another black stone on the opposite side of the dome. They will able to hear what was said. This phenomenon is attributed to the unusual acoustic properties of the monument."
todmsg[2376]="Edmond, Oklahoma’s waterspheroid water tower contains 500,077 gallons of water. That’s enough water to take one 21-gallon bath a day for 65 years, or 23,663 baths total."
todmsg[2377]="Egeskov Castle in Denmark, complete with moat and drawbridge, was built in 1554 in the middle of a small lake, Egeskov. The name means literally \"oak forest,\" and the castle rests on a foundation of thousands of upright oak trunks."
todmsg[2378]="Eilean Donan Castle in Loch Duich in Scotland is said to have its own ghosts. One ghost is reportedly a Spanish soldier killed in the battle when the castle was destroyed in 1719. The soldier is said to have been seen carrying his head under his arm in the room which now holds the introductory exhibition."
todmsg[2379]="Natural Bridge Caverns, outside of San Antonio, Texas, is the largest of its kind in the state. The cavern maintains a temperature of 70° F year-round, and the humidity is 99 percent. All the drinking water for the visitors' center comes from the cavern. The well was drilled into the far end of the North Cavern, about 1.5 miles from where the tour stops."
todmsg[2380]="Don't use the on/off switch on your personal computer any more than necessary. There's a surge of electricity every time the switch is turned on. For fragile computer chips, it's much like starting the day by jumping into an icy pool. To prolong the life of your home computer, turn it on when you arrive home from work and turn it off again when you go to bed at night."
todmsg[2381]="Dr. Samuel Langley was able to get many model airplanes to fly, but on December 8, 1903, Langley's \"human carrying flying machine,\" the aerodrome plunged into the Potomac River near Washington D.C., in front of photographers who were assembled to witness the event. Reporters around the country made fun of the idea that people could fly and nine days later, Wilbur and Orville Wright proved them wrong."
todmsg[2382]="During the height of the Y2K panic in 1999, the U.S. Federal Reserve released $200 billion to defend American banks from a mass cash withdrawal spurred by apocalyptic terror."
todmsg[2383]="During the U.S. Civil War, telegraph wires were strung to follow and report on the action on the battlefield. But there was no telegraph office in the White House, so President Lincoln trekked across the street to the War Department to get the news."
todmsg[2384]="The first satellite the United States launched into space was the Explorer 1 in 1958."
todmsg[2385]="The first true calculator, the abacus, originated in China during the sixth century B.C. Its stone-like beads, shifted along vertical strings, enabled the Chinese to perform basic arithmetical operations with speed and accuracy, the test of a true computer. About 200 years after it was used by the Chinese, the abacus caught on in several Mediterranean civilizations."
todmsg[2386]="Indonesia is the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas."
todmsg[2387]="The first video game was Pong, introduced in 1972 by Noel Bushnell, who then created Atari."
todmsg[2388]="The King James version of the Bible has 50 authors, 66 book, 1,189 chapters, and 31,173 verses. The shortest verse in the Bible consists of two words: \"Jesus wept\" (John 11:35)."
todmsg[2389]="Something that is \"crinoid\" is lily-shaped."
todmsg[2390]="There are 65 alphabets in use throughout the world."
todmsg[2391]="The Spanish word for a bullfighter is matador."
todmsg[2392]="The language of Taki, spoken in parts of French Guinea, consists of only 340 words."
todmsg[2393]="Something that is funny, or is able to or inclined to incite laughter, is \"risible.\""
todmsg[2394]="There are many definitions in the dictionary for the word \"bob,\" which includes its use as a noun when used for a suckling calf."
todmsg[2395]="The Speaker of the House in Great Britain is not allowed to speak."
todmsg[2396]="Rome has more homeless cats per square mile than any other city in the world."
todmsg[2397]="Komodo dragons eat deer and wild boar."
todmsg[2398]="Rottweilers have been determined recently to be the deadliest of all dogs. A 7-year study, which concluded in the summer of 2000, found that 33 U.S. deaths were caused by the large dogs. In contrast, pit bulls were responsible for 27 deaths."
todmsg[2399]="Lanolin, an essential ingredient of many expensive cosmetics, is, in its native form, a foul-smelling, waxy, tarlike substance extracted from the fleece of sheep."
todmsg[2400]="Running in short bursts, the cheetah can reach a speed of 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour)."
todmsg[2401]="Lassie, the TV collie, first appeared in a 1930s short novel titled Lassie Come-Home written by Eric Mowbray Knight. The dog in the novel was based on Knight’s real life collie, Toots."
todmsg[2402]="Elephant tusks grow throughout an elephant's life and can weigh more than 200 pounds. Among Asian elephants, only the males have tusks. Both sexes of African elephants have tusks."
todmsg[2403]="Saltwater fish, such as flounder and cod, have thicker bones than freshwater fish, such as catfish and trout."
todmsg[2404]="Lemon sharks grow a new set of teeth every two weeks. They grow more than 24,000 new teeth every year."
todmsg[2405]="Elephants and short-tailed shrews get by on only two hours of sleep a day."
todmsg[2406]="Scannon, a black Newfoundland lab, accompanied Lewis and Clark on their Louisiana Territory expedition."
todmsg[2407]="Leopards are much heavier than cheetahs."
todmsg[2408]="Elephants are covered with hair. Although it is not apparent from a distance, at close range, one can discern a thin coat of light hairs covering practically every part of an elephant's body."
todmsg[2409]="Schools of South American (Pacific) Humboldt squid, which reach 12 feet in length, have been known to strip 500-pound marlins to the bone."
todmsg[2410]="Like cows, snakes cannot activate their vitamin D without the presence of sunlight."
todmsg[2411]="Elephants communicate in sound waves below the frequency that humans can hear."
todmsg[2412]="When sex symbol Mae West was named \"Woman of the Century\" by UCLA in the 1960s, the actress was asked about the Black Panthers, who were then in the nation's headlines. She replied with her familiar, witty sexual innuendo, \"Depends on what angle you’re lookin’ at ‘em from.\""
todmsg[2413]="Strangely, the king of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley, was a mama's boy. He slept in the same bed with his mother, Gladys, until he reached puberty. Up until Elvis entered high school, she walked him back and forth to school every day and made him take along his own silverware so that he wouldn’t catch germs from the other kids. Gladys forbade young Elvis from going swimming or doing anything that might put him in danger. The two of them also conversed in a strange baby talk that only they could understand."
todmsg[2414]="When she was a girl, former Radio City dancer Valerie Harper lived all over the U.S. because her father was a traveling salesman. When she was 18, she left upstate New York to be a member of the \"Li'l Abner\" chorus in 1958. A few years later, Harper contracted hepatitis. Her doctor prescribed loads of candy, and she ballooned to 155 pounds. In 1970, TV producers found her dumpy shape perfect for the part of Mary Tyler Moore's outspoken, overweight friend, Rhoda Morgenstern. Harper earned three Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys for the role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (in 1971, she tied with Sally Struthers in All in the Family), and won a Best Actress in a Comedy Emmy in 1975 for her own spin-off, Rhoda. By this time, Harper had shed much of the weight. "
todmsg[2415]="Surprisingly, Yul Brynner was seriously considered by director Robert Wise for the role of Captain Von Trapp in the film The Sound of Music (1965)."
todmsg[2416]="When Shirley Temple appeared in her first film, The Red-Haired Alibi, she was three years old."
todmsg[2417]="Susan Sarandon helped pay her college tuition by modeling for a brochure promoting Washington's Watergate Hotel. "
todmsg[2418]="Madcap comedienne Lucille Ball was kicked out of drama school in New York City when she was 15 because she was too quiet and shy."
todmsg[2419]="Susan Sarandon said in a 1993 interview, \"Someone asked me if it was true that, once women had children, they didn't like to take their clothes off anymore. I said I didn't know any women any age who liked to take off their clothes.\" "
todmsg[2420]="Madonna's mother died when she was five years old."
todmsg[2421]="When talk show host Jay Leno was in fifth grade, his teacher wrote the following on his report card: \"If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he'd be a big star.\""
todmsg[2422]="T. E. Lawrence's novel The Seven Pillars of Wisdom was retitled when it was made into a film: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)."
todmsg[2423]="Mae West never said \"Come up and see me some time\" in a movie. She actually said, \"Why don't you come up some time and see me.\""
todmsg[2424]="When veteran actor James Cromwell was considering the role of Farmer Arthur Hoggett for the movie Babe (1995), he browsed through a copy of the screenplay to count how many lines he would have. Seeing that there were relatively few lines, he agreed to the part, which he believed would be an effortless, quick job. That misconception was quickly quashed. Cromwell didn't realize that he would have more screen time, although much of it was non-speaking, in this film than any previous roles in his career."
todmsg[2425]="Talented juvenile actress Claire Danes left New York and came to Los Angeles to audition for a role in Schindler's List (1993). In the interim, she was discovered for the starring role on TV’s My So Called Life. Spielberg ultimately cast her in Schindler’s List, but Danes turned the part down because the film's producers weren’t willing to pay her schooling in Poland."
todmsg[2426]="Mae West's 1959 autobiography was titled Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It."
todmsg[2427]="The deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century was on May 8, 1902, when Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted and killed 30,000 people. Most of the deaths were caused by hot ash flows. By the time the eruption ended, 15% of the island’s population was dead."
todmsg[2428]="The discovery of garnet often indicates that diamonds are nearby."
todmsg[2429]="The Douglas fir, also known as Douglas spruce, is neither a fir nor a spruce, but a pinetree."
todmsg[2430]="The edelweiss, the Austrian flower made famous in a song from the film The Sound of Music, is endangered."
todmsg[2431]="The energy released by a hurricane each day would, if converted to electricity, keep the entire United States supplied with electrical power for up to three years."
todmsg[2432]="Wind barriers such as hedges give protection downwind for a distance of up to ten times the height of the barrier."
todmsg[2433]="With its intense, narcotic perfume, lilac, especially white lilac, is considered an unlucky plant in certain parts of the British Isles. It is among the least welcomed flowers for hospital patients, though some people believe that lilac blossoms with five petals brings luck to those who find them."
todmsg[2434]="Without any greenhouse effect, Earth would be cold and lifeless with an average temperature of 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit."
todmsg[2435]="In November, there is a stretch of warm dry weather with a little wind and usually a bit of haze in the air. In the United States, it is called \"Indian Summer.\" In England, France, and Italy, it is referred to as \"St. Martin’s Summer.\""
todmsg[2436]="In one day, a full-grown oak tree expels 7 tons of water through its leaves."
todmsg[2437]="In one year, Americans generate enough hazardous waste to fill the New Orleans Superdome 1,500 times over."
todmsg[2438]="In one year, the average tree gives off enough oxygen to allow four people to breathe for a year."
todmsg[2439]="The first 12-ounce aluminum soda can was introduced in 1964 by Royal Crown Cola. Coke didn't start using aluminum until three years later, and that same year Pepsi came out with a seamless can."
todmsg[2440]="Pears are a member of the rose family.<br>Pears ripen better off the tree, and they ripen from the inside out."
todmsg[2441]="The first beer brewed in England was made by the Picts about 250 B.C. The beverage was made from heather and may have had hallucinogenic properties."
todmsg[2442]="The first bottles of Coca-Cola sold for a mere 5 cents per bottle in 1899. There are now more than 1,000 Coca-Cola bottling plants worldwide."
todmsg[2443]="Peas will lose their bright green color if cooked in a covered pot with acidic ingredients, such as lemon juice, wine, or tomatoes."
todmsg[2444]="In days of yore, the British were avid consumers of mustards. One thirteenth-century household listed expenses for seven to ten gallons of mustard monthly, according to the Association for Dressings and Sauces in Atlanta."
todmsg[2445]="The first chocolate chip cookie was developed in the kitchen of a Whitman, Massachusetts, country inn in 1937. Simple experiments led to a recipe combining bits of chocolate candy with a shortbread type cookie dough."
todmsg[2446]="Pecan crops need a freeze to help loosen the nuts from their shucks."
todmsg[2447]="In early 1999, General Mills launched an \"Around the World Event\" promotion with internationally known marshmallow shapes in its Lucky Charms cereal. These shapes included a purple Liberty Bell, pink and white Leaning Tower of Pisa, green and yellow torch, gold pyramid, blue Eiffel Tower, orange Golden Gate Bridge, green and white Alps, and red and white Big Ben clock."
todmsg[2448]="The first known pizza shop, Port 'Alba in Naples, opened in 1830 and is still open today. Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in North America in 1905 at 53 1/3 Spring Street in New York City."
todmsg[2449]="Pecans vary in size, from thirty to ninety nuts per pound. No nuts are produced until the trees are at least five years old."
todmsg[2450]="In Ecuador, encocados are seafood dishes prepared in coconut milk."
todmsg[2451]="The first macaroni factory in the United States was established in 1848. It was started by Antoine Zegera in Brooklyn, New York."
todmsg[2452]="Pepsi-Cola's advertising slogan in 1903 was \"Exhilarating, Invigorating, Aids Digestion.\""
todmsg[2453]="In England, a \"bap\" is a hamburger bun."
todmsg[2454]="Alabama's coastline measures just 53 miles."
todmsg[2455]="Alaska has a sand desert with dunes over 100 feet high. It is located along the flatland of the Kobuk River in the northwestern part of the state.<br>Alaska has the longest coastline in the United States. It measures 6,640 miles, greater than that of all other states combined.<br>The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, 2,784,960 acres in size, is located on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska. Bering Land Bridge is a land bridge remnant that connected Asia with North America more than 13,000 years ago. There are no roads leading into the Preserve; therefore, there is no automobile access to the Preserve. Four-wheelers are prohibited, but snow machines are permitted in the winter months.<br>Summer days are long, almost without darkness. Winter days are short, with only a few hours of light. Exposure and hypothermia are real threats to visitors throughout the year."
todmsg[2456]="Alaska has the longest shoreline of all the states in the United States. Its tidal shoreline wraps around 3/4s of the state, covering 34,000 miles. Another Alaskan coast, fronting the open sea, stretches for 6,600 miles.<br>Alaska is so vast that if you could see one million acres of the state every day, it would take an entire year to see it all."
todmsg[2457]="Although Mount Everest, at 29,028 feet, is often called the tallest mountain on Earth, Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii, is actually taller. Only 13,796 feet of Mauna Kea stands above sea level, yet it is 33,465 feet tall if measured from the ocean floor to its summit."
todmsg[2458]="America purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000 — about 2 cents an acre."
todmsg[2459]="Arizona boasts a great variety of fossils, the best known of which were of creatures that lived during the Triassic Period. These include early dinosaurs and the trees that left us Arizona petrified wood, (Araucarioxylon arizonicum), the state's fossil. Arizona petrified wood is protected in Petrified Forest National Park. Another famous Arizona fossil site is the Grand Canyon. It was carved out of the Colorado Plateau, a famous geologic region.<br>Arizona has official state neckwear — the bolo tie."
todmsg[2460]="Arlington National Cemetery is maintained by the U.S. Army, but veterans of all military services are eligible to be buried there if they died on duty, retired from the military, or received the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, or Silver Star. The military routinely grants exceptions for relatives of eligible veterans, but they are buried with their family members. Federally elected officials and Supreme Court justices also can be buried in Arlington."
todmsg[2461]="As of 1990, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was the only U.S. city of the nation's largest 50 cities with a higher death rate than birth rate."
todmsg[2462]="At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater, in Death Valley, is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere."
todmsg[2463]="At least 10,000 years old, the Creosote bush in California’s Mojave Desert is the oldest known living thing in the world."
todmsg[2464]="The war with Spain was the shortest war in American history. It lasted five months: April 1898 to August 1898. "
todmsg[2465]="St. Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris because she saved the city from an attack by Attila the Hun."
todmsg[2466]="The well known lullaby \"Hush-a-bye baby, on the tree top\", is said to have been the first English poem written on American soil, when a boy that sailed with the Pilgram Fathers was inspired by the natives' custom of propping babies cradles in tree tops."
todmsg[2467]="St. Miles Partridge once played dice with Henry VIII for the bells of St. Paul's church. He won, and collected the bells."
todmsg[2468]="The winged hat worn by the ancient Greek god Hermes (or, in Roman mythology, Mercury) was called a \"petasos.\""
todmsg[2469]="Stalin led the former Soviet Union for 24 years before dying of a stroke on March 5, 1953."
todmsg[2470]="Texas was annexed during John Tyler’s term."
todmsg[2471]="The \"ancient world\" refers to the time period from 4 million years ago to 500 A.D. Our earliest human ancestors appeared in Africa 2.5 million years ago."
todmsg[2472]="The world’s first civilizations appeared around 5,000 B. C. near rivers. The main peoples were the Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians."
todmsg[2473]="The world's first underground railway system opened in London, England, on January 10, 1863.The London Underground is still the longest underground railway network in the world, with 251 miles of track."
todmsg[2474]="The year 1666 was much feared throughout Western Europe because of its triple sixes, \"666,\" which represent the \"Number of the Beast.\" While the world did not end, London was nearly destroyed by the Great Fire."
todmsg[2475]="There are 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence."
todmsg[2476]="There are fifteen nations that gave women the right to vote before the United States did in 1920. The earliest were New Zealand, in 1893, Australia, in 1902, and Finland, in 1906."
todmsg[2477]="There are more than 300 references to sheep and lambs, more than any other animal, in the Bible's Old Testament, one of the earliest records of sheep."
todmsg[2478]="There have been 262 popes since Saint Peter."
todmsg[2479]="Thomas Jefferson anonymously submitted design plans for the White House, but they were rejected."
todmsg[2480]="In Northern Territory, Australia, the first Monday in August is Picnic Day, and it is a bank holiday."
todmsg[2481]="In Scandinavian countries, the branches of the mountain ash are gathered on Good Friday and put on home doorposts to protect the house from evil. This belief has its origins in Norse mythology."
todmsg[2482]="In Scotland, New Year's Eve is called hogmanay, and is an occasion when young people go about singing and seeking gifts."
todmsg[2483]="In Sweden at Easter, children dress up like old witches with brooms. They travel from house to house collecting coins or sweets. This custom dates back to when the Swedish people believed that there were witches who rode on broomsticks to Blakulla mountain to meet the devil."
todmsg[2484]="In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New Year's Day."
todmsg[2485]="In the Middle Ages, one Valentine's Day custom was for young men and women to draw names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would then wear these names on their sleeves for one week. \"To wear your heart on your sleeve\" now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling."
todmsg[2486]="In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine's Day with their sweethearts."
todmsg[2487]="In the United States, 86 percent of Americans decorate their homes for Halloween."
todmsg[2488]="In the United States, about 8 percent of pet owners dress their pets in costumes at Halloween."
todmsg[2489]="It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers."
todmsg[2490]="It was believed in earlier times that if a young woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire."
todmsg[2491]="Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, is the name given to emancipation day by African Americans in Texas. On that day in 1865, General Order #3 was read to the people of Galveston, which began as follows: \"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves. . .\" Large celebrations on June 19 began in 1866 and continued into the early twentieth century. African Americans treated the day like the Fourth of July, and the celebrations included prayer services, inspirational speakers, stories from former slaves, food, red soda water, rodeos, and dances. The celebration of Juneteenth as emancipation day spread from Texas to the neighboring states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma."
todmsg[2492]="Kwanzaa has seven basic symbols which represent values and concepts reflective of African culture.<br>Mazao: Fruits, Nuts, and Vegetables<br>Mkeka: Place Mat<br>Vibunzi: Ear of Corn<br>Mishumaa Saba: The Seven Candles<br>Kinara: The Candleholder<br>Kikombe Cha Umoja: The Unity Cup<br>Zawadi: Gifts"
todmsg[2493]="Large balloons first appeared in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927, and Felix the Cat was the first character featured. For a short time, there was a tradition of releasing the balloons when the parade was over. They'd float for days and the lucky finders could claim a prize."
todmsg[2494]="There are many patron saints for human physical afflictions, including St. Teresa of Avila and St. Denis, Bishop of Paris, who are the patron saints of headaches; St. James the Greater, patron saint of rheumatoid sufferers; St. Apollonia, patron saint of toothaches; and St. Genevieve (Genofeva), patron saint of fevers."
todmsg[2495]="The average woman consumes 2,000 calories a day, the average man about 2,500. However, if you had the metabolism of a shrew, you would need to consume about 200,000 calories a day. Metabolic rate is the sum of all the chemical reactions occurring in the body at one time. The faster the reactions, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you need to consume. Smaller animals tend to have higher metabolic rates because they have to work harder to keep their bodies warm."
todmsg[2496]="There are more than 10 trillion living cells in the human body."
todmsg[2497]="The average women's thighs are one and a half times larger in circumference than the average man's."
todmsg[2498]="There are more than 100 different viruses that cause the common cold."
todmsg[2499]="The axial skeleton is the medical term for the bones of the upper body. Axial bones include the skull, backbone, breastbone and ribs."
todmsg[2500]="The back of the human hand is the opisthenar."
todmsg[2501]="The bacteria found on human skin is roughly the numerical equivalent of all the humans on Earth."
todmsg[2502]="There are ten human body parts that are only three letters long: eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, and gum."
todmsg[2503]="There is evidence that many people gain and lose weight in accordance with the cycles of the Moon."
todmsg[2504]="There is no one who does not dream. Those who claim to have no dreams, laboratory tests have determined, simply forget their dreams more easily than others."
todmsg[2505]="Three pints (1.3 liters) of blood per minute flow through the kidneys."
todmsg[2506]="To filter unwanted substances out of the blood, your kidneys contain myriad tiny tubes adding up to about 40 miles in length."
todmsg[2507]="Today, American dentists use some 13 tons of gold each year for crowns, bridges, inlays and dentures. The reason? Gold is non-toxic, it can be shaped easily, and it is tough – it never wears, corrodes, or tarnishes."
todmsg[2508]="Tongue prints are as unique as fingerprints."
todmsg[2509]="Tooth enamel is the hardest substance manufactured by the human body."
todmsg[2510]="There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire Earth."
todmsg[2511]="There are more than 100,000 different species of butterflies."
todmsg[2512]="There are more than 80,000 known species of ants."
todmsg[2513]="There are one-celled creatures that have the properties of both plants and animals. An example is the flagellate Euglena, which propels itself through the water like an animal by means of undulating snakelike appendages. Also, it contains chlorophyll, a substance as characteristic of plants as blood is of animals."
todmsg[2514]="There are over 2,000 species of fleas. The most common domestic flea is the cat flea."
todmsg[2515]="There is an average of 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas. Essential to the balance of nature, spiders annually consume a hundred times their number in insects."
todmsg[2516]="There really are such thing as \"cooties.\" Though most people believe that \"cooties\" is just a nonsense word used by children to describe unpleasant insects, cooties are, in fact, a kind of body lice."
todmsg[2517]="Tiny insects called aphids can reproduce parthenogenetically. Female eggs can develop without the fertilizing action of the sperm."
todmsg[2518]="To keep bugs out of flour, it is recommended to place a couple of bay leaves in the container."
todmsg[2519]="To make a one-pound comb of honey, bees must collect nectar from about two million flowers."
todmsg[2520]="To sting, a bee uses 22 muscles."
todmsg[2521]="True flies have just one main pair of wings. Members of this group are: houseflies, gnats, horseflies, fruitflies, craneflies, dungflies, bluebottles and midges."
todmsg[2522]="True worms are divided into segments or rings and have tube shaped bodies."
todmsg[2523]="Unlike marauder ants, the workers of many ant species are solitary hunters."
todmsg[2524]="Unlike most other ant species, the Argentine ant forms multi-queen colonies."
todmsg[2525]="Up to 80,000 bees live in a hive."
todmsg[2526]="In December 1998, The Orlando Sentinel reported that undercover law enforcement agents in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, cited the Champion House Restaurant for serving them a bowl of bear paw soup, thereby violating protected-species laws. For this crime, the restaurant was fined $2,600 and its owner’s son was fined $650."
todmsg[2527]="In December 2000, China's legislature passed a law against online subversion, ratifying the government's escalating efforts to extend its political controls into cyberspace. Several months earlier, the first dissident Web site in China was shut down and police hunted for its organizers, a human rights group and the firm that hosted the site, called the New Culture Forum."
todmsg[2528]="In Egypt, social engagements usually begin later than they do in the United States. Dinner may not be served until 10:30 p.m. or later. When invited to dine, it is customary to take a gift of flowers or chocolates. Giving and receiving gifts should be done with both hands or the right hand – never with the left."
todmsg[2529]="In England in 1571, a man could be fined for not wearing a wool cap."
todmsg[2530]="In England, a Witchcraft Act of the early 1700s identified black cats as dangerous animals to be shunned."
todmsg[2531]="In England, murder is murder. There are no degrees of murder, as in the United States."
todmsg[2532]="In Florida, women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner."
todmsg[2533]="In France and Belgium, snapping the fingers of both hands has a vulgar meaning."
todmsg[2534]="In France, Napoleon instituted a scale of fines for sex offenses which included 35 francs for a man guilty of lifting a woman’s skirt to the knee and 70 francs if he lifted it to the thigh."
todmsg[2535]="During the 18th century, books that were considered offensive were sometimes punished by being whipped."
todmsg[2536]="During the reign of Catherine I of Russia, the rules for parties stipulated that no man was to get drunk before 9 o'clock and ladies weren't to get drunk at any hour."
todmsg[2537]="During the Renaissance period, laws were passed that prescribed which fashions could not be worn by the lower classes, so as to keep social distinctions intact. Queen Elizabeth of England would not allow the ruff to be worn by commoners; in Florence, women of the lower class were not allowed to use buttons of certain shapes and materials."
todmsg[2538]="During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who wore a beard was required to pay a special tax."
todmsg[2539]="During World War II in May 1942, U.S. ice cream manufacturers were restricted by law to produce only 20 different flavors of ice cream."
todmsg[2540]="Egg-shaped stones were placed at the corners of a field or by a fruit tree during ancient times to insure a good crop. Symbolically, anything egg-shaped represented fertility."
todmsg[2541]="Eleven days before the statute of limitations was to expire on the Brink's robbery in Boston, Massachusetts, that netted nearly $3 million in January 1950, one of the robbers confessed and betrayed his fellow robbers."
todmsg[2542]="Historians have reason to believe that Emperor Nero was nearsighted. He reportedly watched performances while holding a jewel with curved facets in front of one eye. "
todmsg[2543]="Ernest Hemingway revised the last page of A Farewell to Arms 39 times."
todmsg[2544]="Noah Webster was referred to as \"the walking question mark\" during his student days at Yale."
todmsg[2545]="Lafayette was a major general in the United States at the age of 19. Lafayette's whole name takes up an entire line on a page: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette."
todmsg[2546]="In Zanzibar, the language Swahili is called Kiunguju, and it is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living there."
todmsg[2547]="Hitler was voted Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1938."
todmsg[2548]="Ernest Hemingway wrote a story about Mount Kilimanjaro. The famous mountain is located in Tanganyika."
todmsg[2549]="Nobel-prize winner Albert Einstein reportedly had a huge crush on film star Marilyn Monroe."
todmsg[2550]="Lawrence of Arabia's ghost is said to be heard riding his motorbike near his house in Dorset, England, where he died in 1935 in a motorbike accident."
todmsg[2551]="Inspired by Lord Baden-Powell's Boys Scouts in Britain, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts (called Girl Guides at that time) in the United States in Savannah, Georgia, in 1912. The first troop was comprised of 18 girls; one of the girls was Low's niece, Daisy. "
todmsg[2552]="Nobody knows where the body of Voltaire is. It was stolen from its tomb in the 19th century and has never been recovered. The theft was discovered in 1864, when the tomb was opened and found empty."
todmsg[2553]="Lee Harvey Oswald's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992."
todmsg[2554]="Inventor Thomas Edison married twice and had six children. He nicknamed his first two children, Marion and Thomas, Jr., \"Dot\" and \"Dash\" (after telegraphy)."
todmsg[2555]="Hou Ji was originally a Chinese hero of royal descent. Tang, the founder of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1066 B.C.), made him Prince of the Millet. After bringing knowledge of agriculture to the Chinese, Hou Ji was worshipped as a god of the Earth and of cereals."
todmsg[2556]="If you attempted to count the stars in a galaxy at a rate of one every second, it would take around 3,000 years to count them all."
todmsg[2557]="If you drove a car from Earth at a constant speed of 100 miles per hour, it would take about 221,000 million years to reach the center of the Milky Way."
todmsg[2558]="If you traveled to Proxima Centauri, the star nearest to Earth (outside our solar system), the Sun would appear to you to be a bright star in the constellation of Cassiopeia."
todmsg[2559]="In 1066, Halley's comet appeared shortly before William the Conqueror invaded England. The Norman king took it as a good omen; his battle cry became \"A new star, a new king.\""
todmsg[2560]="In 1845, the third Earl of Ross, a wealthy amateur astronomer, built the world's largest telescope on his Ireland estate. The earl's reflecting telescope had a 72-inch metal mirror, and was suspended between two ivy-covered stone walls."
todmsg[2561]="In 1937, the tiny asteroid Hermes passed uncomfortably close to Earth, at a distance of less than twice that of the moon."
todmsg[2562]="In 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, married Andrian Nikolayev, also a cosmonaut. Their daughter, Elena, born in 1964, was the first child in history born to a mother and father who had both traveled in space."
todmsg[2563]="In 1977, the Voyager 1,2 photographed the first images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune."
todmsg[2564]="In 1981, \"M&M's®\" Chocolate Candies were chosen by the first space shuttle astronauts to be included in their food supply. \"M&M's\"® are now on permanent display at the space food exhibit of the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.."
todmsg[2565]="In 1984, Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first woman astronaut to walk in space."
todmsg[2566]="Astronaut John Glenn ate the first meal in space when he ate pureed applesauce squeezed from a tube aboard Friendship 7 in 1962."
todmsg[2567]="Astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon with his left foot"
todmsg[2568]="Astronauts circling the Earth may be able to see as many as 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets each day."
todmsg[2569]="Astronomers believe Jupiter’s moon, Europa, may have an ocean of liquid water beneath an ice cap. "
todmsg[2570]="Astronomers believe that the universe contains one atom for every 88 gallons of space."
todmsg[2571]="At its center, the Sun has a density of over a hundred times that of water, and a temperature of 10-20 million degrees Celsius."
todmsg[2572]="Pheasant hunting is believed to be Iowa's single biggest outdoor sporting event."
todmsg[2573]="Wheaties began its alliance with sports in 1933, nine years after the cereal was introduced. It started with the sponsorship of baseball radio broadcasts."
todmsg[2574]="Pianist Yanni was formally a member of the Greek National Swimming Team."
todmsg[2575]="When playing golf, scraping the golf club along the ground before hitting the ball is called sclaffing."
todmsg[2576]="Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors: black and gold."
todmsg[2577]="When the Superior Dome, at Northern Michigan University, opened in 1991, it boasted the world's largest wooden dome."
todmsg[2578]="Polo may be played outdoors, on a field, or large indoor arenas, such as riding academies or armories. The ball used for outdoor polo may be wood or plastic. If wood, it may be made from ash or bamboo. The ball used indoors is inflated and covered with leather. It is approximately 4½ inches in diameter. It is 3¼ inches in diameter, and weighs between 4¼ and 4½ ounces.<br>When the World Cup of began in 1930 (formally called the FIFA World Cup), thirteen nations participated. Uruguay won that first competition.<br>Polo was introduced in the United States in 1876, coming from England. It is believed the game originated in Persia more than 2,000 years ago."
todmsg[2579]="Prize fights prior to the turn of the century lasted up to more than a hundred rounds (rounds were often determined by knockdowns.) The fighters used bare knuckles (no gloves.)"
todmsg[2580]="Ray Harroun was the first Indianapolis 500 winner in 1911."
todmsg[2581]="Roberto Clemente was first Hispanic player inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. This event took place on August 6, 1973."
todmsg[2582]="Roger Bannister was the first man to break the four-minute mile; however, he did not break the four-minute mile in an actual race. On May 6, 1954, he ran 3:59.4, while being carefully paced by other runners. Bannister's quarter-mile splits were 57.5 seconds, 60.7, 62.3, and 58.9. Twenty-three days after Bannister had run the most famous mile of all time, fellow Briton Diane Leather became the first woman to break five minutes with a time of 4:59.6 in Birmingham, England, on May 29, 1954. In the forty-plus years since the two British runners broke these significant marks, women's times have improved by a far higher percentage than men's."
todmsg[2583]="Golfer Payne Stewart was a highly recognizable figure on the green because of his color-coordinated outfits. For a time, he wore the colors of NFL teams in the cities where he was competing. At the Phoenix Open, he wore outfits created to reflect the colors of Super Bowl teams, because the game traditionally was played the same day as the Open's final round."
todmsg[2584]="The state of Maine produces 98 percent of the nation's low-bush blueberries."
todmsg[2585]="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."
todmsg[2586]="The state with the most automobile miles driven per capita is Delaware, racking up an average of 10,165 miles average annually per person."
todmsg[2587]="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."
todmsg[2588]="The steel industry in 1926 introduced the 5-day, 40-hour work week. Henry Ford adopted it in 1943 ."
todmsg[2589]="The average person blinks 25 times per minute, which works out to about 13,140,000 blinks each year."
todmsg[2590]="The sun is 330,300 times larger than Earth.<br><br>The Sun is estimated to be 20 to 21 cosmic years old.<br><br>The sun's warming rays travel through 93 million miles of space to reach Earth. Moving at the speed of light, they make the trip in just eight minutes. A jet airliner would need more than 18 years to complete the same journey."
todmsg[2591]="The average person takes 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day and may walk up to 115,000 miles in their lifetime."
todmsg[2592]="The average person will take in 5 pints (2.2 liters) of water per day. Three pints (1.4 liters) of that water comes from drinking and 2 pints(0.8 liters) comes from food."
todmsg[2593]="The average raindrop falls at seven miles per hour."
todmsg[2594]="The tallest sand dunes in the world are in the Sahara desert. The dunes have enough sand in them to bury the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Eiffel Tower."
todmsg[2595]="The average salinity of the world's oceans is 34.7 parts per thousand."
todmsg[2596]="The thirteenth of the month falls on Friday more often than on any other day of the week. In a 400-year period, there will be 688 Friday the thirteenths, as compared to 687 Sundays or Wednesdays, the next highest number."
todmsg[2597]="The average-size hot tub or spa – about 4 by 5 feet – holds about 475 gallons of water."
todmsg[2598]="New York City has the most skyscrapers of any city in the world with 140. Chicago is a distant second at 68. The term \"skyscraper\" technically describes all habitable buildings with a height of more than 500 feet (152 m)."
todmsg[2599]="New York City's Empire State Building is considered by many to be the most romantic place to be married. Each Valentine’s Day, couples joined in matrimony on the 80th floor of the Building, and automatically become members of the Empire State Building Wedding Club. This entitles them to free admission to the observatories on their anniversary, Valentine’s Day. There were fifteen Valentine's Day weddings planned for February 2000: fourteen marriages and one renewal of vows. Interested couples must write to the building and explain why they want to get married here. Couples are then chosen on the basis of originality, uniqueness, and style."
todmsg[2600]="Nobody knows who built the Taj Mahal. The names of the architects, masons, and designers that have come down to us have all proved to be latter-day inventions, and there is no evidence to indicate who the real creators were."
todmsg[2601]="Notre Dame de Paris ranks as one of the greatest achievements of Gothic architecture. The famous cathedral was begun in 1163 and completed around 1345; the massive interior can accommodate over 6,000 worshippers. Its famous gargoyles were added much later."
todmsg[2602]="O’Hare Airport in Chicago was called Orchard Place until 1949, and the airport is still abbreviated \"ORD.\""
todmsg[2603]="On a clear day, you can see five states from atop the Empire State Building in New York City: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania."
todmsg[2604]="On April 12, 1965, the first Major League baseball game ever was played indoors at the Houston Astrodome."
todmsg[2605]="On December 27, 1956, California granted landmark status to the barn used by director Cecil B. DeMille while making The Squaw Man in 1913. It was the first film-related landmark so designated."
todmsg[2606]="On February 22, 1985, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge was crossed by its one billionth car."
todmsg[2607]="Europe's most famous prehistoric caves are in Lascaux. Sometimes called \"The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory,\" children discovered the caves in the 1940s, but they've been closed to the public since 1963. The Lascaux Copy Caves (or, \"Lascaux Two\") is a constructed replica of the prehistoric caves right next to the original, and they look exactly like what visitors would see if allowed inside the real one. Skilled local artisans painstakingly used the original materials and techniques to achieve a realistic reproduction."
todmsg[2608]="Excavation for New York's Empire State Building began on January 22, 1930. Construction was postponed upon former governor Al Smith's request. A charismatic Irish-American, Smith asked that construction begin on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1930, to honor the heritage of the Irish. Framework of the structure rose at a rate of 4½ stories per week, and the building was completed ahead of schedule."
todmsg[2609]="Except for short periods during the Civil War, Kentucky's beautiful, historic Diamond Caverns has offered tours for over 140 years. Thoughtful precautions were taken upon its discovery to preserve its natural beauty, and today, the Caverns are in remarkable condition despite millions of people touring it. Electric lights were installed in Diamond Caverns in 1917. In 1924, concrete steps and the bridge beyond the Rotunda were constructed. Diamond Caverns features intricate deposits lining the halls in cascades of naturally colorful calcite with thousands of stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone deposits. Today, Diamond Caverns is the second oldest show cave in the Central Kentucky Cave Region, and fourth oldest operating commercial cave in the United States."
todmsg[2610]="Experts have come to the conclusion that additional U.S. freeways does not automatically ease vehicle congestion. An example was shown in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. The 8-year, $434 million freeway construction project resulted in commuters shaving only 30 seconds off of their drive time. The conclusion was that motorists lost more time in delays during construction than they could make up once the construction was complete."
todmsg[2611]="Firehouses have circular stairways because, in the olden days, the engines were pulled by horses. The animals were kept in stables on the ground floor, and they learned how to walk up straight staircases."
todmsg[2612]="Flying from London to New York by Concord, because of the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave."
todmsg[2613]="France had the first supermarket in the world. It was started by relatives of the people who started the Texas Big Bear supermarket chain."
todmsg[2614]="Inside an asbestos suit coated with aluminum, a fire fighter may experience a sweaty, but tolerable, 85 degrees to 100 degrees F, while attempting to extinguish an inferno of jet fuel raging at over 2,000 degrees."
todmsg[2615]="The height and width of modern American battleships was originally determined by insuring they had were able to go beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and through the Panama Canal."
todmsg[2616]="ISBN stands for \"International Standard Book Number.\" The ISBN is a 10-digit identification system that allows booksellers and libraries to easily differentiate between books and other media when ordering. The ISBN refers to the specific edition, such as trade paperback or mass market paperback, and is usually located on the back of the book and on the copyright page."
todmsg[2617]="The highest man-made temperature – 70 million degrees Celsius – was generated at Princeton University in a fusion power experiment in 1978."
todmsg[2618]="It is believed that 90 percent of all scientists who have ever lived are alive now, and that as many scientific paper have been published in the years since 1950 as were published in all the centuries before 1950."
todmsg[2619]="The historic notebooks in which Marie and Pierre Curie recorded their experiments on radium, nearly a century ago, are still radioactive."
todmsg[2620]="It is estimated that 1.8 billion light bulbs are manufactured each year in the United States."
todmsg[2621]="The images on a computer screen are made up of more than 5,000 pixels, or dots, per square inch."
todmsg[2622]="It takes about 1,100 watts to run an electric toaster."
todmsg[2623]="The Kodak part of the Eastman-Kodak Company was not named after a person. That was simply the name of the company’s first camera. Its slogan was \"You press the button and we do the rest;\" after it was used, the exposed camera and film were sent to the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. in Rochester for developing."
todmsg[2624]="It took Henry Ford's Motor Company seven years to manufacture 1 million automobiles. One hundred thirty-two working days after this figure was reached (in 1924), the company had made 9 million more cars."
todmsg[2625]="The last 12-cylinder car produced in the United States was the 1948 Lincoln Continental."
todmsg[2626]="It was recently reported that the technology contained in a single Game Boy unit in 2000 exceeded all the computer power that was used to put the first man on the Moon."
todmsg[2627]="The little \"m's\" on \"M&M's\"® Chocolate Candies weren't printed on the candies until 1950. They were originally printed in black, not white. It wasn't until 1954 that the \"m's\" became the color they are today."
todmsg[2628]="Laptop computers and briefcases falling from the overhead bins onto passengers' heads may be the most common accident aboard an airplane."
todmsg[2629]="Magnets help disinfectants kill nearly 33 percent more bacteria in swimming pools, say Cranfield University researchers in Bedfordshire, England. Their findings provide the first proof that commercial magnetic devices for treating water in swimming pools have an effect."
todmsg[2630]="The last dictionary that Noah Webster wrote contained 70,000 words and their meanings. He wrote it with no help and by hand. After his death, his family sold the right to publish to G&C Merriam and Co."
todmsg[2631]="Something that is of or based on the number twenty is said to be \"vigesimal\" or \"vicenary.\""
todmsg[2632]="There are no words in the English language rhyme with month, orange, silver, or purple."
todmsg[2633]="The study of folklore and legends is called storiology."
todmsg[2634]="The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11 December 1972.<br><br>\"As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.\""
todmsg[2635]="Something that is said to be \"therianthropic\" is partly human and partly animal in form. "
todmsg[2636]="The telephone area code for a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean is 871."
todmsg[2637]="The letter \"B\" took its present form from a symbol used in Egyptian hieroglyphics to represent a house. Its original Egyptian form looked very much like its modern one."
todmsg[2638]="Something that is without teeth can be said to be \"edentulous.\""
todmsg[2639]="The letter \"O\" has not changed in shape since its adoption in the Phoenician alphabet c. 1300 B.C."
todmsg[2640]="Something that is woody or like wood can be described as \"xyloid.\"<br><br> Something that is yellow-colored is referred to as \"xanthous.\""
todmsg[2641]="There are only four words in the English language which end in \"dous\": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, hazardous."
todmsg[2642]="There is a town in Sweden called \"A\" and a town in France called \"Y.\""
todmsg[2643]="The term \"ace\" was first used during World War I for a pilot who had brought down at least five enemy aircraft. The German equivalent was Oberkanone, which meant \"top gun.\""
todmsg[2644]="There is great variation in the number of sounds used in the world's languages. In any given language, the number of consonants range from 6 to 95, and the number of vowels range between 3 and 46. On the average, a language uses 23 consonants and 9 vowels."
todmsg[2645]="Scientific researchers say promiscuous species of monkeys appear to have stronger immune systems than less sexually active ones."
todmsg[2646]="Like horses, zebras may be susceptible to tetanus."
todmsg[2647]="Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die."
todmsg[2648]="Scientists say that pigs, unlike all other domestic animals, arrive at solutions by thinking them through. Pigs can be – and have been – taught to accomplish almost any feat a dog can master, and usually in a shorter period of time."
todmsg[2649]="Likely the swiftest of all antelopes, the impala can easily leap as far as 35 feet."
todmsg[2650]="Elephants perform greeting ceremonies when a member of the group returns after a long time away. The welcoming animals spin around, flap their ears, and trumpet."
todmsg[2651]="Lions are the only truly social cat species, and usually every female in a pride, ranging from 5 to 30 individuals, is closely related."
todmsg[2652]="Elephants sleep only two hours a day."
todmsg[2653]="Lions sleep up to 20 hours a day."
todmsg[2654]="Elephant's use leafy branches and plant stalks as fly swatters."
todmsg[2655]="Elephants, lions, and camels roamed Alaska 12,000 years ago."
todmsg[2656]="Eleven chinchillas were brought from the Andes Mountains in South America in the 1930s. All chinchillas presently in North America are descended from these eleven chinchillas."
todmsg[2657]="Scientists still know very little about the giant squid, except what can be gleaned from the carcasses of about 100 beached squid dating back to 1639. Despite centuries of myths and exciting tales of sightings, of giant squid, more information is known about dinosaurs."
todmsg[2658]="Sea otters have the world's densest fur a million hairs per square inch."
todmsg[2659]="Sea otters inhabit water but never get wet because they have two coats of fur."
todmsg[2660]="Llamas are reported to be inquisitive, friendly animals. A llama greeting is marked by softly blowing on each other. According to animal experts, a soft blow to a person is the llama's way of saying hello."
todmsg[2661]="Sea sponges are used in drugs for treating asthma and cancer."
todmsg[2662]="Llamas are smaller than horses, making them good pack animals, but they are not strong enough for people to ride upon. Typically, a llama can carry 80 to 100 pounds."
todmsg[2663]="Sea sponges, stationary invertebrates that sometimes form a tough, flexible skeleton full of pores, were harvested as the first sponges used for bathing and cleaning."
todmsg[2664]="Lobsters molt 20 to 30 times before reaching the one-pound market size."
todmsg[2665]="Seabirds have salt-excreting organs above their eyes which enable them to drink salty water;seasnakes have a similar filter at the base of their tongue."
todmsg[2666]="Lobsters, like grasshoppers — feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a reaction to painful stimuli proceeds."
todmsg[2667]="Seals and whales keep warm in the icy polar water thanks to a layer of fat called blubber under their skin. Whale blubber can reach up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) thick."
todmsg[2668]="Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary opened in 1927 in Brisbane, Australia, and it was the first, and is still the largest, koala sanctuary in the world. Tourists can cuddle one of 130 koalas, hand feed kangaroos and emus, and see a large variety of Australian native wildlife in the 50-acre sanctuary, such as wombats, Tasmanian devils, and dingoes. Koala cuddling has been banned in New South Wales since 1997, but cuddling is still permitted in Queensland, and especially at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. In Queensland, koalas can only be cuddled for less than 30 minutes per day. They must also get every fourth day off. At Lone Pine, koalas are timed for \"clock on\" and \"clock off\" when they go to the koala cuddling area."
todmsg[2669]="Tammy Wynette’s first single \"Apartment No. 9\" was a small hit in 1966. She went on to have 32 Number 1 country hits in a row – more than any woman in music history."
todmsg[2670]="Many stand-up comedians say their cleverest quips occur to them in taxicabs, often on the way back to their hotel after the show."
todmsg[2671]="While attending Beverly Hills High, comedienne Carol Burnett was on the school's newspaper staff."
todmsg[2672]="Thanks to the success of the James Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), demand for white Lotus Esprits exploded to the point that new customers had to be placed on a three-year waiting list."
todmsg[2673]="Many years ago, the legendary Ethel Barrymore made this observation about the acting industry: \"To be a success, an actress must have the face of Venus, the brain of Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros.\""
todmsg[2674]="The \"Nutcracker\" ballet owes its origins to two stories. \"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,\" by E.T.A. Hoffman, was a dark work that was not meant for children. Today’s versions of the ballet have some elements from the original story, but most of the plot comes from the lighter \"The Nutcracker of Nuremburg\" by Alexandre Dumas."
todmsg[2675]="Marilyn Monroe never received an Academy Award nomination."
todmsg[2676]="The 1982 Burger King TV commercial young Sarah Michelle Gellar performed in was the first commercial to ever mention a competitor by name. She appeared claiming McDonald's burgers were \"smaller\" than their competitors. Consequently, the McDonald’s company sued her as well as Burger King. Gellar couldn’t eat at a McDonald’s unless she was in disguise, due to truth in advertising (one of her commercial lines was \"I only eat at Burger King.\")"
todmsg[2677]="Marilyn Monroe said her favorite female singer was Ella Fitzgerald; her favorite male singer was Frank Sinatra."
todmsg[2678]="Marilyn Monroe was on the Top Ten Box Office film list in 1953, 1954, and 1956. While she never received an Oscar nomination, she was awarded two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical for Some Like It Hot, and the other for the no-longer-issued category World Film Favorite Female."
todmsg[2679]="Mark Knopfler was persuaded to write the music for The Princess Bride if an unusual request was granted: director Rob Reiner was to put the hat that he wore in This Is Spinal Tap (1984) in the film. Reiner happily complied, and the hat can be seen hanging in the boy's bedroom."
todmsg[2680]="While filming the popular 1990s television series \"Baywatch,\" its cast and crew went through 306 pounds of body makeup and one 50-gallon drum of sunscreen each season."
todmsg[2681]="While in New York, struggling actor William H. Macy (E.R., Fargo) worked as \"voice-over talent\" for commercials. His personal \"biggest\" ad line was that of \"Secret: strong enough for a man but made for a woman.\""
todmsg[2682]="While struggling to become a film star, Warren Beatty worked as a restaurant dinner music pianist. "
todmsg[2683]="The 1991 Truth or Dare documentary about Madonna's 1990 international concert tour was shown in Australia and New Zealand under the title of In Bed with Madonna."
todmsg[2684]="While studying at the Filmic Writing Program at USC, John Singleton won three writing awards from the university. He was given a contract with Creative Artists Agency during his sophomore year."
todmsg[2685]="The 1999 surprise hit Blair Witch Project cost about $50,000 to produce and grossed $29 million in its first weekend of wide release. It ultimately grossed more than $240 million."
todmsg[2686]="While the first American performance of the \"Nutcracker\" ballet occurred in 1944, and was produced by the San Francisco Ballet, it was the New York City Ballet’s 1954 production, by George Balanchine, that served as the inspiration for the \"Nutcracker\" ballets performed across the country today."
todmsg[2687]="The Academy Award statue is reportedly named after a librarian's uncle. One day, Margaret Herrick, librarian for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, made a remark that the statue looked like her Uncle Oscar, and the name stuck. There are other sources citing that it was Bette Davis who gave the statue its nickname."
todmsg[2688]="While traveling with a British troupe in the United States, Charlie Chaplin was discovered in a stage show in 1913 by producer Mack Sennett. Sennett signed him to star in one-reelers at Keystone Films for $150 a week, a tidy sum of money for the time. Audiences fell in love with his Little Tramp character, and his fame spread like wild fire. In just seven years, Chaplin had appeared in sixty-nine films, and was commanding an unheard-of salary of $10,000 a week. In 1998 dollars, that would be nearly $82,000 a week."
todmsg[2689]="The American TV hit Survivor was based on the Swedish TV game show Operation Robinson."
todmsg[2690]="Who said accountants aren't funny? Bob Newhart graduated with a B.S. in commerce from Loyola University, and worked as an accountant and a copywriter before he tried his hand at comedy. He won the first Album of the Year Grammy award presented for a comedy performance for his album \"Button Down Mind.\""
todmsg[2691]="The Austrian conductor and composer Johann Strauss (1825-1899), son of the famous conductor and composer Johann Strauss (1804-1849), penned more than 400 waltzes. Some are popular to this day, such as \"The Beautiful Blue Danube\" of 1866 (which was used brilliantly in the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey) and \"Tales from the Vienna Woods\" of 1868. He pursued his career against the wishes of his father. "
todmsg[2692]="In the King James translation of the Bible, there are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones."
todmsg[2693]="In the Navajo culture, turquoise symbolizes hozho, a state in which harmony, beauty, health, and well-being predominate."
todmsg[2694]="In the Netherlands, marijuana is not officially legal, but people are able to buy grass, hashish, loose joints, smoking paraphernalia, and seeds in registered \"coffee shops.\" Magic mushrooms are also available. Despite such easy access, only about 5 percent of the population indulges."
todmsg[2695]="In the southwestern United States, lichens form stable crusts that protect desert soils from erosion. Unfortunately, these crusts are quite fragile. They take decades to recover after being crushed by livestock or off-road vehicles. "
todmsg[2696]="In the United States, there are thirty-two states that have American black bears living in their forests."
todmsg[2697]="In the world, an average of 16 million thunderstorms are formed per year."
todmsg[2698]="Increasing herbicide use has created a jungle of at least 48 \"super-weeds\" that are resistant to chemicals."
todmsg[2699]="It is estimated that a plastic container can resist decomposition for as long as 50,000 years.<br><br>It takes about 1,050 recycled plastic milk jugs to make one six-foot park bench."
todmsg[2700]="It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them."
todmsg[2701]="It is the impurities in gemstones which give them their color."
todmsg[2702]="It only snows about 2 inches per year over most of Antarctica. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was in Antarctica -128.6º F."
todmsg[2703]="It snows more at the Grand Canyon than it does in Minneapolis, Minnesota."
todmsg[2704]="It takes 4,000 crocuses to produce a single ounce of saffron. Saffron is used to color and flavor foods, and was formerly used as a dyestuff and in medicine."
todmsg[2705]="It takes 500 years to replace 1 inch of top soil lost through erosion."
todmsg[2706]="It takes about five years for an oyster to produce a medium-sized pearl."
todmsg[2707]="It takes about nine minutes for a snowflake to fall to Earth from a height of 1,000 feet."
todmsg[2708]="It takes more than a million begonia seeds to weigh an ounce, which accounts for the seeds being so costly."
todmsg[2709]="It takes more than two tons of South African rock to produce less than an ounce of gold."
todmsg[2710]="It takes nearly two million flowers to create one pound of jasmine."
todmsg[2711]="It's been estimated that 700 grocery bags can be made from one average-sized 20-year-old tree."
todmsg[2712]="Ivy has long been identified with immortality. Because it's always green and clings tenaciously to life, it is often used as a symbol of eternal life in Christian art."
todmsg[2713]="Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to the classic American anthem \"America The Beautiful\" after her trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in 1893."
todmsg[2714]="The first tea farm in the United States was created in 1890 near Summerville, South Carolina."
todmsg[2715]="Per a \"New Yorker\" story, a small amount of a pot of homemade fish stock made by poet Allen Ginsberg a few days before he died in 1997 was saved by one of Ginsberg's friends. The friend froze a bit of the unusual soup, thinking it would someday be a cultural icon. Several museums in 2001 competed to secure the frozen stock."
todmsg[2716]="In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. In old England, when customers became unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own \"pints and quarts\" and settle down. From that, we got the abbreviated phrase \"mind your P's and Q's.\""
todmsg[2717]="The five favorite U.S. school lunches nationwide, according to the American School Food Service Association, are, in order, pizza, chicken nuggets, tacos, burritos, and hamburgers."
todmsg[2718]="Per food experts, stirring rice while it simmers mashes the grains and makes the rice gummy."
todmsg[2719]="In France and Italy, a mix of salad greens is known as mesclun, a combination of baby greens and wild plants, tangy and tart with sweet."
todmsg[2720]="Per reports written by Captain John Smith, the first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in his 1607 Jamestown settlement. \"Nog\" comes from the word \"grog,\" which refers to any drink made with rum."
todmsg[2721]="In France and Russia, there are no counterparts for America’s French and Russian salad dressings. The Russian dressing gets its name because at one time it had a Russian ingredient in it, caviar."
todmsg[2722]="Per the Barbecue Industry Association, at least 63 percent of gas-grill owners and nearly half of charcoal-grill users continue using their grills during the winter."
todmsg[2723]="In France, an apple turnover is called a \"chausson aux pommes,\" which means, literally, \"slipper with apples.\""
todmsg[2724]="In France, chocolate was initially met with skepticism and was considered a barbarous, noxious drug. The French court accepted chocolate after the Paris faculty of medicine gave its approval."
todmsg[2725]="In general, Italian brands of pasta are thicker than their American counterparts."
todmsg[2726]="The flesh of the puffer fish (fugu) is considered a delicacy in Japan. It is prepared by chefs specially trained and certified by the government to prepare the flesh free of the toxic liver, gonads, and skin. Despite these precautions, many cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning are reported each year in patients ingesting fugu. Poisonings usually occur after eating fish caught and prepared by uncertified handlers. The end result, in most cases, is death."
todmsg[2727]="The Food and Drug Administration advises pregnant women to avoid soft cheeses, including queso blanco, feta, Brie, Camembert, and blue-veined cheeses, such as Roquefort. Certain soft cheeses can carry the bacterium Listeria, which poses a risk to an unborn child."
todmsg[2728]="The food term à la king refers to a dish comprised usually of chicken or turkey in a rich cream sauce containing mushrooms, pimientos, green peppers, and sometimes sherry."
todmsg[2729]="Per the British Cheese Board, cheese appears in 32 percent of British lunchboxes and sandwiches. Cheese on toast and other bread uses account for more than 60 percent of all meal occasions featuring cheese."
todmsg[2730]="The fortune cookie was invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodlemaker."
todmsg[2731]="Per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans are heavily into French fries, eating an average of 30 pounds per person in 1995, more than triple the amount consumed in 1965."
todmsg[2732]="The freeze-dried ice cream astronauts take on space missions has most of its water content removed. Freeze-drying makes ice cream lighter and removes the need for refrigeration."
todmsg[2733]="Philadelphia druggist Townsend Speakman, invented the world’s first soda pop in 1807. The drink consisted of carbonated water mixed with fruit flavors, and was called a Nephite Julep."
todmsg[2734]="The French are known connoisseurs of truffles, of which they are very proud. These wild black mushrooms usually grow under oak trees. They are grown in the rural areas of France and are a rare delicacy."
todmsg[2735]="Pizza now ranks as the top fast food in America, but is only Number 4 in Canada, where hamburgers are the Number 1 fast food."
todmsg[2736]="The French call bread pudding pain perdu, or \"lost bread.\""
todmsg[2737]="Plain old vanilla is the favorite flavor of ice cream, accounting for 29 percent of all sales."
todmsg[2738]="At the start of the twentieth century, the spectacular city of Las Vegas, Nevada, didn't even exist. Now it's home to more than one million people, and the city boasts nine of the world's ten largest hotels."
todmsg[2739]="Atlanta, Georgia, began as a small train station in 1837. At that time, it consisted only of a few houses occupied by Western and Atlantic Railroad employees. Since it was the last stop on the railroad line, the \"town\" was called Terminus. As the importance of the train station grew and the number of employees living in the town increased, Terminus changed its name in 1843, and was known for two years as Marthasville. The name changed to the current Atlanta just a few years prior to the U.S. Civil War, in 1845. Atlanta was chosen as the \"female form\" of Atlantic to emphasize the city’s rail link to the sea."
todmsg[2740]="Bandelier National Monument, along the Creek of Bears in New Mexico, was designated a national monument in 1916."
todmsg[2741]="Barking Sands Beach on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is known for its unusual sand that squeaks or \"barks like a dog.\" The dry sand grains emit an eerie sound when rubbed with bare feet."
todmsg[2742]="Because of its rapid recovery from its devastating 1906 earthquake, San Francisco became known universally as \"The city that knows how.\" The phrase was originally credited to President William Howard Taft."
todmsg[2743]="Before the construction of the Cape Cod Canal in 1914, every vessel traveling between Boston and points south had to negotiate the treacherous bars near Race Point at the northern tip of Cape Cod. Countless wrecks occurred in the area through the eighteenth century, including that of the British frigate Somerset."
todmsg[2744]="Being a natural phenomenon attracting tourists from all over the world, the brochures of the geyser Old Faithful are printed in 27 different languages. Old Faithful attracts approximately 150,000 visitors each year."
todmsg[2745]="Bore-hole seismometry indicates that the land in Oklahoma moves up and down 25 cm throughout the day, corresponding with the tides. Earth tides are generally about one-third the size of ocean tides."
todmsg[2746]="California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming comprised the territory taken from Mexico following the Mexican War in 1846."
todmsg[2747]="California’s state tree is the redwood, which can grow up to 370 feet tall."
todmsg[2748]="Chicago is home to the world's largest population of Poles outside of Warsaw, Poland.<br><br>Chicago, Illinois, was nicknamed the \"Windy City\" because of the excessive local bragging that accompanied the Columbian Exhibition of 1893.Chicago has actually been rated as only the 16th breeziest city in America."
todmsg[2749]="Located in Cochise County in southern Arizona, the city of Tombstone is probably the most famous and most glamorized mining town in all of North America. According to legend, prospectors Ed Schieffelin and his brother Al were warned not to venture into the Apache-inhabited Mule Mountains because they would only \"find their tombstones.\" Thus, with a touch of the macabre, the Schieffelins named their first silver strike claim Tombstone, and it became the name of the town."
todmsg[2750]="Louisiana is nicknamed the \"Pelican State.\" Its state bird is the pelican."
todmsg[2751]="Maine is the only U.S. state that adjoins only one other state."
todmsg[2752]="Many cities in our country bear the names of other countries. The U.S. city of Mexico can be found in the states of Indiana, Maine, and Missouri."
todmsg[2753]="Meadowcroft Rock Shelter in Washington County Pennsylvania is the earliest documented place of human habitation in the Western Hemisphere. Studies done by anthropologist, Dr. James Adovasio, in the summers of 1973, 1974, and 1975, found evidence of early civilizations. Carbon dating revealed the remains were from human habitants living in the area 16,240 years ago."
todmsg[2754]="Meramec Caverns is the largest commercial cave in the state of Missouri. Missouri is also known as the \"Cave State,\" as it is home to more than 6,000 surveyed caves. Over the centuries, local tribes of Indians used Meramec Caverns as shelter. In the 1700s, French miner Jacques Renault founded one of the Cavern's greatest natural resources, saltpeter. This substance was used exclusively for the manufacture of gunpowder. Local legend claims the cave was used as a station on the \"Underground Railroad\" to hide escaping slaves. In the early 1870s, Jesse James and his band hid in the Caverns on many occasions because it afforded a safe hideout for men and horses after train and bank robberies."
todmsg[2755]="Thomas Jefferson authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition, which explored land bought in the Louisiana Purchase."
todmsg[2756]="Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry did not attend the Constitutional Convention of 1787. "
todmsg[2757]="Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of worst nuclear disaster in United States history when the reactor melted down in 1979."
todmsg[2758]="To conceal her pregnancy, Queen Juana of Portugal is credited with wearing the first hoop skirt in 1470."
todmsg[2759]="To preserve their elaborate coiffures, geishas in ancient Japan slept with their heads on bags filled with buckwheat chaff."
todmsg[2760]="Today in Philadelphia, only the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall draw more visitors than the home of adored American flagmaker and seamstress Betsy Ross. More than a quarter of a million tourists visit the Betsy Ross House annually. Betsy and her husband, John Ross, rented the Georgian-style house from 1773 and 1786, both living there and running their upholstery business out of the house. The house was built about 1740 and consists of two-and-half floors and nine rooms. While residing in the house, Betsy accepted the proposal to sew the first red, white, and blue flag of the fledgling country."
todmsg[2761]="Tom Brokaw was the only network anchor present at the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989."
todmsg[2762]="Toward the end of the fifteenth century, men's shoes had a square tip, like a duck's beak, a fashion launched by Charles VIII of France to hide the imperfection of one of his feet, which had six toes."
todmsg[2763]="Unemployment was so high in England in 1634 that Charles I compelled the demolition of a newly erected mechanical sawmill because it threw so many sawyers out of work. "
todmsg[2764]="Uninterruptedly since the sixth century, the Japanese throne has been occupied by a member of the same family. The present-day emperor, Akihito, is the 125th in succession."
todmsg[2765]="Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee."
todmsg[2766]="Until the Middle Ages, passports were given only to the privileged well-to-do. In 1215, the Magna Carta established that \"All merchants are to be safe and secure in leaving and entering England.\" One of the earliest U.S. passports on record was issued in France in 1778. It was signed by Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, and John Adams."
todmsg[2767]="Victorian publications never dared show a bed in any of their advertisements. When illustrations of the bedroom were required, the bed itself was hidden by curtains."
todmsg[2768]="Virginia Dare, born in 1587 on Roanoke Island, was the first child born of English parents in the New World."
todmsg[2769]="Warriors of the Khmer Empire, found in Cambodia from 800-1400 A.D., rode elephants into battle. The sight of the trumpeting elephants caused panic in the enemy’s ranks and won the Khmers many battles."
todmsg[2770]="Wealthy women of ancient Rome frequented shops that sold beauty products such as hair coloring and wrinkle creams. Popular, too, was a \"special\" water designed to grow or lengthen eyebrows and eyelashes."
todmsg[2771]="Wellington's Ally at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Blucher, wanted to call the battle \"La Belle Alliance\" rather than \"Waterloo\"."
todmsg[2772]="Mardi Gras is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.<br><br>Mardi Gras is observed in Baldwin and Mobile counties of Alabama as a legal state holiday."
todmsg[2773]="May Day, celebrated on May 1, was called Beltane by the ancient Celts."
todmsg[2774]="Measuring 78 feet, Spiderman is the longest hot-air balloon floating at Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day parade."
todmsg[2775]="Mole Day is a chemistry holiday that takes place on October 23. The day celebrates chemistry, remember the mole concept, and give \"honor\" to the mole concept creator, Amadeo Avagadro (1776-1858). The actual holiday begins at 6:02 a.m. and ends at 6:02 p.m"
todmsg[2776]="Mother’s Day was born thanks to Philadelphia citizen Anna Jarvis on May 8, 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson appointed the second Sunday in May for the holiday. Jarvis led an eleven- year campaign to have a holiday to honor the memory of her mother and mothers everywhere. May’s second Sunday was chosen because that was the day Jarvis’ mother died on in 1905. The carnation was chosen as the customary flower because Jarvis’ mother’s garden was full of them."
todmsg[2777]="Mumming plays were passed down through generations since the Middle Ages. Some bits seem to have nothing to do with the overall plot but are demanded by tradition. In England, St. George fights a Turk, who defeats him, to much booing and hissing from the audience. A Good Doctor then comes and saves St. George, to wild cheering."
todmsg[2778]="New Year's Day is the world's most observed holiday. In most English-speaking countries, it has been observed on January 1 since the British Calendar Act was passed in 1751. There was a time when people wished others a \"Happy New Year\" on March 25, approximately the date of spring's onset."
todmsg[2779]="New York City's Empire State Building's world famous tower lights are turned off every night at midnight with the exception of New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and St. Patrick's Day, when they are illuminated until 3 a.m."
todmsg[2780]="Oktoberfest Zinzinnati is an annual celebration of Cincinnati's German heritage. It is the second largest Oktoberfest in the world – only Munich's is larger."
todmsg[2781]="Old Polish legends have attached the egg to Easter celebrations. One legend concerning the Virgin Mary told of when she gave eggs to the soldiers at the cross of Jesus. She entreated them to be less cruel as she wept. The tears of Mary fell upon the eggs, spotting them with dots of brilliant color."
todmsg[2782]="On December 15, 1998, the Mayer Kaplan Jewish Community Center in Skokie, Illinois, attempted to set the inaugural world's record for largest number of dreidels to be spun at one time. At least 200 people were needed to set the record."
todmsg[2783]="One belief of ancient times was that on St. Valentine’s Day and Eve, a young girl would eventually marry the first eligible male she met on this day. If a girl was curious and brave enough, she could conjure up the appearance of her future spouse by going to a graveyard on St. Valentine’s Eve at midnight. She would then have to sing a prescribed chant and run around the church twelve times."
todmsg[2784]="One charming St. Valentine's Day tradition from long ago was to pick a dandelion that had gone to seed. The person would then take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. He or she would count the seeds that remained on the stem. That was supposedly the number of children they would have."
todmsg[2785]="Only 8 percent of American adults say they eat out on Labor Day."
todmsg[2786]="Pennsylvania was the first state to make Flag Day a legal holiday on May 7, 1937. In 1912, Joseph Hart of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, persuaded the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks that a \"flag day\" should be put into their bylaws and observed every June 14. It was on June 14, 1777 that that Congress adopted the stars and stripes as the United States national flag. In 1949, President Harry Truman had June 14 officially declared Flag Day for the entire United States."
todmsg[2787]="Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentine's Day candy box in the late 1800s."
todmsg[2788]="Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the National Football League."
todmsg[2789]="Second only to Christmas, Valentine's Day brings out the card-giver in people, with an average of 1.01 billion cards purchased every year."
todmsg[2790]="September 17 is Citizenship Day in the United States in honor of the day the Constitution was signed."
todmsg[2791]="St Valentine's Day on February 14th dates back to a Roman festival of youth, Lupercalia, when young people chose their sweethearts by lottery."
todmsg[2792]="St. Patrick's Day was celebrated for the first time in America on March 17, 1737, when the Charitable Irish Society, a Protestant group founded that same year, organized a non-religious celebration honoring St. Paddy. It originated in Ireland as a religious holiday honoring the arrival of St. Patrick in 432 A.D. and his death on March 17, 464 A.D."
todmsg[2793]="The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was temporarily halted in the early 1940s during World War II, as rubber and helium could not be wasted. It resumed in 1945, and was televised in New York. The Parade also began the route it still follows today."
todmsg[2794]="Tuberculosis is one of the world's oldest diseases. Some ancient mummies found in Egypt and Peru had tuberculosis."
todmsg[2795]="Turkana tribesmen, who live on the barren soils of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, add iron to their diet by drinking cow's blood – they puncture the cow's jugular vein with a sharp arrow and catch the spurting liquid in a clay jug. The cows, though bled frequently, suffer no ill effect."
todmsg[2796]="Twenty-five trillion cells travel through the bloodstream – a stack of 500 would only measure 0.04 inches high."
todmsg[2797]="Twins are born less frequently in the eastern part of the world than in the western."
todmsg[2798]="Two hundred beats per minute is the maximum heartbeat possible for a human."
todmsg[2799]=" Two out of three adults in the United Sates wear glasses at some time."
todmsg[2800]="Two phobias for the price of one – a person who has an irrational fear of childbirth can be said to be either maieusiophobic or tocophobic."
todmsg[2801]="Type O is the most common blood type in the world. Type AB is the rarest. There is also a subtype called A-H, but to date, only three people in the world are known to have it."
todmsg[2802]="Ulcers seem to be aggravated more by decaffeinated coffee than by regular coffee. The effects of decaffeinated coffee were compared to those of peptone, a product of protein digestion considered the strongest stimulant of acid secretion in the stomach. Analysis of stomach contents by the Center for Ulcer Research and Education in California revealed that drinking decaffeinated coffee produced more gastric acids than that produced by peptone."
todmsg[2803]="Uncontrollable winking is the physical symptom of those suffering from blepharospasms."
todmsg[2804]="Until about age 12, boys cry about as often as girls."
todmsg[2805]="Until the 1920s, babies in Finland were often delivered in saunas. The heat was thought to help combat infection, and the warm atmosphere was considered pleasing to the infant. The Finns also considered sauna as a holy place."
todmsg[2806]="Up to the age of six or seven months, a child can breathe and swallow at the same time. An adult cannot do this."
todmsg[2807]="Varicose veins are stretched, dilated veins whose valves do not work properly. The Arizona Heart Institute & Foundation reports that women are three times more likely to develop them than men, and people whose jobs require them to stand for long amounts of time often develop them."
todmsg[2808]="Visual scientists have estimated that, by the age of 60, our eyes have been exposed to more light energy than would be released by a nuclear blast."
todmsg[2809]="Water makes up 60 percent of our body weight. Of the water, 8 percent is in the blood, 25 percent in the spaces between cells, and 67 percent inside the cells."
todmsg[2810]="We filter out 99 percent of the sights, sounds, and other sensations around us if they don’t seem threatening or important. If we didn’t filter, the sensory overload would drive us insane."
todmsg[2811]="We think we cannot see at night. But given enough time to adjust, the human eye can, for a time, see almost as well as an owl's. Ultimately, as the amount of light decreases, an owl detects shapes after a human no longer can."
todmsg[2812]="Well-conditioned athletes commonly have low resting pulse rates in the range of 40 to 50 beats per minute. This compares with 70 to 80 beats per minute in the average adult."
todmsg[2813]="Velvet ants get their name from the appearance of the females, which look like hairy ants. Actually, they are not true ants, but wingless wasps."
todmsg[2814]="Very few species of fleas parasitize birds. Of the 1,800 known species of fleas in the world, only about 100 have been reported on birds."
todmsg[2815]="When a butterfly is at rest, it holds its wings vertically above its back. A moth at rest holds its wings flat."
todmsg[2816]="When a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives. The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone."
todmsg[2817]="When a worker bee is between 1 and 2 days old, it has the job of cleaning the hive's cells and keeping the brood warm. At age 3 days, the bee graduated to the job of feeding the older larvae."
todmsg[2818]="When female wasps return to the colony after foraging, they may initiate aggressive encounters with males and stuff them head first into empty nest cells. Cornell University researchers who observed the behavior call it \"male-stuffing,\" and believe it contributes to the colony's fitness by making more food available to larvae."
todmsg[2819]="While all spiders can make silk, not all spiders make webs."
todmsg[2820]="While many arachnids rely on webs or trap doors to catch prey, the bird-eating spider rushes straight at anything that moves. The hairy, venomous creature with a leg span that reaches 10 inches can eat grounded birds or small rodents."
todmsg[2821]="A dragonfly can fly 25 miles per hour.<br><br>A dragonfly flaps its wings 20 to 40 times a second, bees and houseflies 200 times, some mosquitoes 600 times, and a tiny gnat 1,000 times."
todmsg[2822]="A flea is capable of jumping 13 inches in a single leap. In human terms, this would be equivalent to a person leaping 700 feet in one bound."
todmsg[2823]="A fly can react to something it sees and change direction in 30 milliseconds."
todmsg[2824]="A fly stuck in a spider web can escape in about five seconds if the spider doesn’t get to it first.<br><br>A fly’s eye has more than 4,000 lenses.<br><br>A housefly can transport germs as far as 15 miles away from the original source of contamination."
todmsg[2825]="A grasshopper can leap over obstacles 500 times its own height. In relation to its size, it has the greatest jumping ability of all animals."
todmsg[2826]="A male emperor moth can detect and find a female of his species a mile away."
todmsg[2827]="A male moth can smell a female moth from 100 yards away."
todmsg[2828]="A mature, well-established termite colony with as many as 60,000 members will eat only about one-fifth of an ounce of wood a day."
todmsg[2829]="A mosquito, engorged on blood, is able to fly carrying a load twice its own weight."
todmsg[2830]="A nest in which insects or spiders deposit their eggs is called a \"nidus.\""
todmsg[2831]="A queen bee may lay as many as 3,000 eggs in a single day."
todmsg[2832]="Frederick Winthrop Thayer of Massachusetts, and the captain of the Harvard University Baseball Club, received a patent for his baseball catcher's mask on February 12, 1878."
todmsg[2833]="Frustrated at the lack of interest in his new toy invention, Charles Pajeau hired several midgets, dressed them in elf costumes, and had them play with \"Tinker Toys\" in a display window at a Chicago department store during the Christmas season in 1914. This publicity stunt made the construction toy an instant hit. A year later, over a million sets of Tinker Toys had been sold."
todmsg[2834]="George Ellery Hale was the twentieth century's most important builder of telescopes. In 1897, Hale built a 40-inch-wide telescope, the largest ever built at that time. His second telescope, with a 60-inch lens, was set up in 1917 and took 14 years to build. During those 14 years, Hale became convinced that he suffered from \"Americanitis,\" a disorder in which the ambitions of Americans drive them insane. During the building of his 100-inch lens, Hale spent time in a sanatorium, and would only discuss his plans for the telescope with a \"sympathetic green elf.\""
todmsg[2835]="The first ballpoint pens sold in 1945 were priced at $12.00 apiece."
todmsg[2836]="The first Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages were three inches wide and eighteen inches long. You made your own bandage by cutting off as much as you needed."
todmsg[2837]="Joseph Priestley, the English chemist, invented carbonated water. It was a by-product of his investigations into the chemistry of air."
todmsg[2838]="The first BB gun was invented in 1886. Made for children, it frightened many parents because it was an actual working gun that could cause serious injury. The BB gun was a descendant of the cap gun, which was invented soon after the U.S. Civil War. The BB gun uses compressed air produced by a spring-operated plunger."
todmsg[2839]="Joshua Pusey of Pennsylvania received a patent for his book matches in 1892."
todmsg[2840]="The first black-and-white motion picture to be digitally converted to color was Yankee Doodle Dandy, the 1942 biopic of entertainer George M. Cohen."
todmsg[2841]="Just 50 years after Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press in the mid-15th century, more than 6 million books had been published on law, science, poetry, politics, and religion."
todmsg[2842]="The first bricks were made by the people of Jericho, in 8000 B.C. A town of 2,000 people, Jericho was one of the oldest known towns in existence."
todmsg[2843]="Karl Benz of Germany is credited with inventing the first automobile in 1885. The automobile had an internal combustion engine and three wheels. In 1926, Benz merged his company with that of fellow German auto creator, Gustave Daimler, to form the Mercedes-Benz."
todmsg[2844]="The first coin-operated machine ever designed was a holy-water dispenser that required a five-drachma piece to operate. It was the brainchild of the Greek scientist Hero in the first century A.D."
todmsg[2845]="Kilts are not native to Scotland. They originated in France."
todmsg[2846]="The first commercial vacuum cleaner was so large it was mounted on a wagon. People threw parties in their homes so guests could watch the new device do its job."
todmsg[2847]="KLEENEX® Cleansing Tissues were invented in 1924 as a sanitary way to remove cold cream."
todmsg[2848]="The first cyanoacrylate (super/krazy glue) was discovered by accident, when chemists at Eastman-Kodak accidentally glued two prisms together when testing new organic compounds for light refracting properties."
todmsg[2849]="Kleenex® tissues were marketed as a cold cream remover when they were first introduced in 1924."
todmsg[2850]="The first drive-in service station in the United States was opened by Gulf Oil Company – on December 1, 1913, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."
todmsg[2851]="Launched by the Mattel company in 1988, Holiday Barbie was among America's best-selling dolls in 1995 and 1996."
todmsg[2852]="The first envelopes with gummed flaps were produced in 1844. In Britain, they were not immediately popular because it was thought to be a serious insult to send a person's saliva to someone else."
todmsg[2853]="Leonardo da Vinci invented the scissors."
todmsg[2854]="Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, invented the first alarm clock in 1787. It only rang at 4 a.m. because that's what time he got up."
todmsg[2855]="George Hale's 100-inch telescope lens, built in the early 1900s, was the largest solid piece of glass made until then. The lens was made by a French specialist who poured the equivalent of ten thousand melted champagne bottles into a mold packed with heat maintaining manure so that the glass would cool slowly and not crack."
todmsg[2856]="Eugene-Francois Midocq, a French thief and outlaw, evaded the police for years, turned police spy, joined the force as a detective, and ultimately used his knowledge of crime to establish a new crime-fighting organization, the Surete."
todmsg[2857]="Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath once a year."
todmsg[2858]="FBI agents were first allowed to carry guns in 1934, 26 years after the agency was established."
todmsg[2859]="Kissing one's fingertips is a common gesture throughout Europe and Latin America countries. It connotes the declaration of \"aah, beautiful!\" The recipient of the kiss may be anything from a woman or a wine, a sports car or a soccer play. It is believed the gesture originated from the custom of the ancient Greeks and Romans who, when entering and leaving the temple, threw a kiss toward sacred objects such as statues and alters."
todmsg[2860]="Law on the books for Wetaskiwin, Alberta, in 1917: \"It's against the law to tie a male horse next to a female horse on Main Street.\""
todmsg[2861]="In Georgia, Gwinnett County has a law that forbids residents from keeping rabbits as pets. The county livestock law restricts rabbits to farm areas and homes with at least three acres of land. The law was amended in 1993 to allow Vietnamese potbellied pigs as pets after a woman with a pet pig pleaded for the exemption."
todmsg[2862]="Licensed London taxis (otherwise known as black cabs) are required by law to carry a bale of hay at all times. This dates from the days of the horse-drawn cab and the relevant law has never been revoked."
todmsg[2863]="In Germany, shaking hands with the other hand in a pocket is considered impolite. In Mali, a man will shake hands with a woman only if she offers her hand first. The handshake is often done with the left hand touching the other person's elbow as well."
todmsg[2864]="LSD was legal in California until 1967."
todmsg[2865]="In Greece, it is a wedding tradition to write the names of all single female friends and relatives of the bride on the sole of her shoe. After the wedding, the shoe is examined, and those whose names have worn off are said to be the next in line for marriage."
todmsg[2866]="Mailing an entire building has been illegal in the U.S. since 1916 when a man mailed a 40,000-ton brick house across Utah to avoid high freight rates."
todmsg[2867]="In Greenwich, England during the 1800s, it was unlawful to impersonate a retired person on a pension."
todmsg[2868]="Married women were forbidden by law to watch, let alone compete, in the ancient Olympics. The penalty was death. The Greeks believed that the presence of wives in Olympia would defile Greece’s oldest religious shrine there, although young girls were allowed in. Ironically, the shrine that was off-limits to married women was dedicated to a woman, the fertility goddess Rhea, who was the mother of the supreme god Zeus. Women who broke the rule were thrown from a nearby cliff."
todmsg[2869]="In Hazelton, Pennsylvania, there is a law on the books that prohibits a person from sipping a carbonated drink while lecturing students in a school auditorium."
todmsg[2870]="Massachusetts Puritans passed America's first law against gambling in 1638."
todmsg[2871]="In Idaho, a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds."
todmsg[2872]="Missouri levied a tax on bachelors on December 20, 1820."
todmsg[2873]="In India, frogs were believed to personify thunder in the sky."
todmsg[2874]="Murdering a traveling musician was not a serious crime during the Middle Ages."
todmsg[2875]="In India, frogs were believed to personify thunder in the sky. Their Sanskrit word for \"frog\" translated to \"cloud.\""
todmsg[2876]="Nearly 43 percent of convicted criminals serving prison sentences in the United States are re-arrested within a year of being released from prison."
todmsg[2877]="In India, it is perfectly proper for men to wear pajamas in public. Pajamas are accepted as standard daytime wearing apparel."
todmsg[2878]="In Italy, they do not use Christmas trees. They decorate small pyramid shaped wooden stands with fruit. "
todmsg[2879]="Federal Aviation Administration rules say winds can be no stronger than 10 mph for safe hot-air balloon flights."
todmsg[2880]="Ernestine Williams of Florida, an arthritic grandmother, allegedly ran a family pickpocket ring from her wheelchair for ten years. Ernestine taught her children and teenage grandson the tricks of the trade, and took in as much as $50,000 per day. Following a two-year investigation, they were all arrested in November 2000 on racketeering charges."
todmsg[2881]="Not many people are aware that singer Gloria Estefan earned a psychology degree from the University of Miami."
todmsg[2882]="Legendary bandit and horse thief of the late 1800s, Belle Starr was born Myra Belle Shirley."
todmsg[2883]="Isaac Asimov wrote more than 500 books during his lifetime (1920-1992). He has the honor of being the only person who has authored a book in each of the Dewey Decimal System classifications."
todmsg[2884]="Houdini was the first man to fly an airplane solo in Australia."
todmsg[2885]="Everyone knows that Theodor Geisel was the real name of the man we refer to as Dr. Seuss. But did you know that Seuss was Geisel's middle name? He initially used it in college after being caught with alcohol in his dorm room at Dartmouth during Prohibition. Geisel was forced to resign as editor from the school's humor newspaper as punishment. So he called himself \"Seuss\" and stayed on at the paper. The title became official in 1957 when Dartmouth awarded him an honorary doctorate."
todmsg[2886]="Leif Erikson, a Viking, landed in North America around 1000. He called the newly discovered land Vinland."
todmsg[2887]="F. Scott Fitzgerald spent four years at Princeton, but left before graduating to join the U.S. Army during World War I. His first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920), was autobiographical and made him rich (although only temporarily) and famous."
todmsg[2888]="Isaac Newton dropped out of school when he was a teenager, at his mother's request. She hoped he would become a successful farmer."
todmsg[2889]="Howard Hughes' original fortune came from his father's invention of an oil drill bit capable of boring through subterranean rock."
todmsg[2890]="Famed British writer Ben Jonson (1573-1637) was buried upright in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner because he died in debt and couldn't afford a proper gravesite."
todmsg[2891]="Hugnes was archbishop of Reims in the tenth century when he was five years old."
todmsg[2892]="Famed Egyptian queen Cleopatra wore kohl, an eyeliner made from ground-up minerals."
todmsg[2893]="Famous Adoptees:Newt Gingrich (politician); Marilyn Monroe (actress); Dan O'Brien (Olympic gold medallist, decathlon); Nancy Reagan (actress; wife of U.S. president); Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy's restaurant); John J. Audubon (naturalist); Ted Danson (actor); Gerald Ford (U.S. president); Melissa Gilbert (actress); and Tom Monaghan (founder of Domino's Pizza, former owner of Detroit Tigers)."
todmsg[2894]="Ralph Waldo Emerson died in 1882 from the effects of a cold contracted while attending the funeral of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow."
todmsg[2895]="RARE AIR was the immodest two-word statement on basketball great Michael Jordan's Illinois vanity license plate in the 1990s."
todmsg[2896]="Of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s four sons, Robert Todd Lincoln was the only one to survive to adulthood. He became a lawyer and served as secretary of war and minister to Great Britain."
todmsg[2897]="Of all the world's peoples, the only ones known not to use fire are the Andaman Islanders and the Pygmies."
todmsg[2898]="Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pinewood measuring 77 cm x 53 cm (30 inches x 20 7/8 inches) in 1506."
todmsg[2899]="Rebecca Elizabeth Marier was the first woman to graduate \"top of the class\" at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. The rankings are based on academic, military, and physical accomplishments."
todmsg[2900]="Of the world's approximate 3,000 languages, about 1,000 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea."
todmsg[2901]="At midday on Mercury, the sunlight is hot enough to melt lead."
todmsg[2902]="At the end of every 19 years the lunar phases repeat themselves. In effect, the tide tables for the next 19 years will be approximately the same as those for the past 19 years."
todmsg[2903]="At the height of a hundred miles, air is only a billionth as dense as it is on Earth's surface. Even so, the total amount of air that is higher than the hundred-mile level comes to 6 million tons."
todmsg[2904]="At the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico, Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, and Minnie, the longest surviving \"astro-chimp,\" are buried."
todmsg[2905]="Slinky, the popular spring toy, has gone in space shuttles to test the zero-gravity effects on the physical laws that govern the mechanics of springs. In space, Slinky behaves like neither a spring nor a toy, but as a continuously propagating wave."
todmsg[2906]="Small satellites within a planet’s rings are sometimes called \"mooms.\""
todmsg[2907]="In 1992, a yo-yo was brought into space by astronaut Jeffry Hoffman on the space shuttle Atlantis."
todmsg[2908]="Some astronomers believe Pluto's strange and erratic orbit indicates that it wasn't one of the original planets at all, but rather, a moon of Neptune that somehow broke loose."
todmsg[2909]="In 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and plunged into Jupiter, ripping holes the size of Earth in the planet's atmosphere."
todmsg[2910]="Some neutron stars spin 600 times a second, which is as fast as a dentist's drill."
todmsg[2911]="In 1995, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration employee bought six plastic owls at Wal-Mart to protect the space shuttle from woodpeckers."
todmsg[2912]="Some subatomic particles discovered by nuclear physicists have a lifetime of just a few trillionths of the trillionth of a second. In this moment, light – which travels from the Moon to Earth in 1.25 seconds – moves to no more than the width of a proton."
todmsg[2913]="In 435 B.C., the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras suggested that the Sun was not just a small glowing circle of light. He maintained that it was a glowing rock a hundred miles across. For that outrageous statement, he was exiled from Athens."
todmsg[2914]="Space dust is extremely small – smaller than a particle of smoke – and widely separated, with more than 320 feet between particles."
todmsg[2915]="In astronomy, a white dwarf is the dense, burned-out remains of a star; a stellar corpse."
todmsg[2916]="Statistically, UFO sightings are at their greatest number during those times when Mars is closest to Earth."
todmsg[2917]="In China, the dark shadows forming a face is seen as \"the toad in the moon,\" not the \"man in the moon.\" The toad is considered one of the five poisons of yin. It is believed that eclipses occur when the \"toad in the moon\" tries to swallow the moon itself."
todmsg[2918]="Temperature variations on Mercury are the most extreme in the solar system, ranging from 90 K to 700 K."
todmsg[2919]="In October 1991, astronomers at Cambridge, England, discovered one of the dimmest stars ever seen. It is relatively close to Earth, but so dim – 10,000 times fainter than the Sun – that it is visible only with a large telescope."
todmsg[2920]="The \"Jupiter Effect\" occurred on March 10, 1982, which is when all the planets in the solar system are on the south side of the Sun. The name was taken from the 1974 book by astronomers John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann. While this phenomenon occurs about every twenty or so years, it was predicted that this particular \"alignment of planets\" would cause tides on the Sun, raising solar flares that would ultimately change the rotation of Earth and causing devastating earthquakes."
todmsg[2921]="In order to become an astronaut, applicants to NASA's Mercury Space program in 1959 were required to be in a branch of the military; be under 40 years old and shorter than 5 feet, 11 inches; demonstrate perfect eyesight and excellent physical condition; hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent in engineering; and be a qualified jet pilot and have at least 1,500 hours of flying time logged."
todmsg[2922]="The Apollo II crew declared \"moon walk and moon dust samples\" on their U.S. Customs form upon their return from the Moon on July 20, 1969."
todmsg[2923]="In the 16th and 17th centuries, some people thought comets were the eggs or sperm of planetary systems."
todmsg[2924]="In the constellation Cygnus, there is a double star, one of whose components has such a high surface gravity that light cannot escape from it. It is Cygnus X-1, which many astronomers believe to be the first \"black hole\" to be detected."
todmsg[2925]="Golf-great Billy Casper turned golf pro during the Korean War while serving in the Navy. Casper was assigned to operate and build golf driving ranges for the Navy in the San Diego area."
todmsg[2926]="Golfing great Ben Hogan's famous reply when asked how to improve one's game was: \"Hit the ball closer to the hole.\""
todmsg[2927]="Golfing legend Lee Trevino was born and reared in Dallas, Texas, by his mother who worked as a house cleaner, and his grandfather, who was a gravedigger."
todmsg[2928]="Helen Wills Moody was the first female African American tennis player to achieve international fame. She had more Wimbledon titles than any woman in tennis history, until Martina Navratilova broke the record in 1990."
todmsg[2929]="High temperatures can make rubber or plastic grips on tennis, golf, or racquetball equipment totally unusable. Avoid storing racquets or golf clubs in your vehicle's trunk, particularly during the summer."
todmsg[2930]="Hockey netminder Georges Vezina picked up the nickname \"The Chicoutimi Cucumber\" based on the name of his birthplace in Quebec and because opponents said he was \"as cool as a cuke\" when he tended nets for the Montreal Canadiens from 1917 to 1926. The trophy for NHL goalies is named after Vezina."
todmsg[2931]="Horse racing is one of the most ancient sports, originating in Central Asia among prehistoric nomadic tribesmen around 4500 B.C. When humans began keeping written records, horse racing was already an organized sport throughout the world."
todmsg[2932]="Horse racing was the first sport to have strict regulations against drugs."
todmsg[2933]="Ronald Reagan's favorite pastime sport was horseback riding."
todmsg[2934]="Saint Lydwina is the patron saint of ice skating."
todmsg[2935]="Seven thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians bowled on alleys not unlike our own."
todmsg[2936]="Soccer gave us the term \"melee.\" It means a \"confused mass,\" which was what the playing field looked like in Europe in the Middle Ages. Towns competed using teams of up to a hundred players, with the goals a half-mile or so apart."
todmsg[2937]="Soccer midfielder Mia Hamm was nicknamed \"Jordan\" when she attended the University of North Carolina. The name was derived from basketball alumni Michael Jordan."
todmsg[2938]="Some form of bowling is played in more than 90 countries around the world. Approximately 100 million people participate in bowling today."
todmsg[2939]="Sports historians have traced roller skating to the early 1800s when an unknown Dutchman sought to find a warm-weather equivalent to ice skating. He decided to attach wooden disks to shoes; after a short period of refinement, roller skating became a popular pastime in Holland. The sport attained even greater popularity among the North American public with the introduction of the steel wheel with ball bearings."
todmsg[2940]="Stan Musial, on July 9, 1963, became the first baseball player to appear in twenty-four All-Star games."
todmsg[2941]="Steeplechases originated from a bet in an eighteenth century hunt club. After a bad day fox hunting, one man suggested a race to a steeple in a straight line. To stay on the line, the racers had to overcome obstacles."
todmsg[2942]="Students from McGill University introduced the game of rugby, with its oblong ball, to their Harvard counterparts in 1874 who up to that time played only with a round ball. The Americans were so taken by the game they adopted it and it eventually evolved into the football now played throughout the country."
todmsg[2943]="In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first fully professional baseball team. They were also the first team to wear knickers."
todmsg[2944]="In 1876, Nell Saunders defeated Rose Harland in the first United States women's boxing match. Saunders received a silver butter dish as a prize."
todmsg[2945]="In 1904, May Sutton Brandy became the first American woman to win the ladies singles championship at Wimbledon."
todmsg[2946]="In 1916, Jones Wister of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania invented a rifle for shooting around corners. It had a curved barrel and periscopic sights."
todmsg[2947]="In 1931, Lili de Alvarez was the first woman to wear shorts at Wimbledon."
todmsg[2948]="The U.S. Library of Congress has compiled a 232-source bibliography on the subject of when, properly speaking, centuries roll over. Almost all of the sources agree that the twentieth century will not end until December 31, 2000."
todmsg[2949]="The best-selling book of all time is the Bible. Throughout the world, the Bible has sold over 6 billion copies, enough to give every person in the world one copy. "
todmsg[2950]="The budget of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare – $200 billion – is larger than the combined operating expenses of all the governments of the 50 U.S. states combined."
todmsg[2951]="The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches."
todmsg[2952]="The United States earned the title of having the most automobiles of any country in the world. With an estimated 135 million cars nation wide, it is approximated that there is one car for every two Americans."
todmsg[2953]="The Bureau of Engraving produces $4,095 in paper currency each minute."
todmsg[2954]="The United States has the rest of the world beat when it comes to its toilets. Per a survey of 100 international travel writers, the United States has, by far, the best in the world. Western Europe may have the best castles and museums, but johns finished a distant second. Scandinavia, rated separately from Western Europe, placed third. China's bathrooms are considered the absolute worst according to the surveyed travel writers. Almost as bad are those toilets in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was also voted the worst when it comes to toilet paper."
todmsg[2955]="The Canadian province of Nova Scotia leads the world in exporting lobster, wild blueberries, and Christmas trees."
todmsg[2956]="The United States produces 19 percent of the world's trash. The annual contribution includes 20 billion disposable diapers, 2 billion razors, and 1.7 billion pens."
todmsg[2957]="The Capitol Building in Washington D.C., has 365 steps. They represent every day of the year."
todmsg[2958]="The United States produces the world's largest crop of soybeans. China is the second largest producer."
todmsg[2959]="The Capitol Records building in Los Angeles, California, is built to resemble a stack of records. A red airplane-warning light atop the structure flashes out the word \"Hollywood\" in Morse code every 20 seconds or so."
todmsg[2960]="The United States shreds 7,000 tons of worn-out currency each year."
todmsg[2961]="The cargo bay of a space shuttle is large enough to hold one humpback whale, and still have room for 1,000 herrings. That’s the equivalent of filling it with 250,000 4 oz. candy bars."
todmsg[2962]="The world’s biggest ice cream bar was made in Kalisz, Poland. In September of 1994, it took 11 days to make the bar which weighed 19,357 pounds when it was finished."
todmsg[2963]="The Caspian Sea, bordered by Russia and Iran, is the world’s largest lake with a surface area of 142,145 square miles (371,000 square kilometers). Containing salt water, it is believed the Caspian Sea may be the remains of a former sea."
todmsg[2964]="The world’s fastest gust of wind was clocked at 231 miles per hour at the peak of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington. The fifth fastest wind in the world was recorded in Buffalo, New York, at 91 miles per hour."
todmsg[2965]="The Channel Tunnel between England and France is the longest underwater and rail tunnel in Europe, and 2nd longest in the world behind Seikan in Japan."
todmsg[2966]="The world’s largest collection of genealogical information is kept in Salt Lake City, Utah, belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
todmsg[2967]="The Civil War sub H. L. Hunley could remain underwater for about two hours. However, it had spent 1,200,000 hours submerged underwater since it sunk and until it was raised on August 8, 2000."
todmsg[2968]="The world’s largest oil storage facility is at Ju’aymah in Saudi Arabia, the site of five giant oil tanks that can hold up to 81,232,890 gallons of oil each. If all that oil was gasoline, each tank would have enough fuel for the average car to take 6,000 round trips to the moon."
todmsg[2969]="The Coast Guard Academy in July of 1976 was the first U.S. service academy to admit women."
todmsg[2970]="The cost of a Broadway ticket, in 1927, was $4.50; today tickets can run as high as $90."
todmsg[2971]="The world’s most valuable Barbie doll is the 40th Anniversary De Beers customized doll that was worth $82,870 and wore a total of 22 carats of diamonds. At around $17,000 the second most valuable Barbie is an original prototype. Next, if in mint or never-removed-from-box condition ONLY, is a brunette 1959 ponytail Barbie that may reach values of $9,500."
todmsg[2972]="Frank Lloyd Wright designed the earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan."
todmsg[2973]="French sculptor Auguste Rodin's \"The Thinker\" was intended to be part of a great pair of doors called the \"Gates of Hell,\" but the doors were never finished."
todmsg[2974]="Godiva Chocolates' world-renowned Fifth Avenue Boutique in New York City boasts nearly 100,000 visitors to the establishment per year."
todmsg[2975]="The first all-umbrella shop, James Smith and Sons in London, England, opened in 1830. It is still located at 53 New Oxford Street."
todmsg[2976]="On May 24, 1883, with city schools and businesses closed at noon for the big event, the highly anticipated Brooklyn Bridge was opened. The bridge was also referred to as the \"Great East River Bridge.\""
todmsg[2977]="The first American-built West Coast lighthouse was that of Alcatraz Lighthouse in 1854."
todmsg[2978]="On the average, dwellings in Japan have 91.92 square meters, or about 989 square feet, of floor space per household."
todmsg[2979]="The first aquarium in the world devoted entirely to freshwater species opened in July 2000 in Minnesota. The aquarium is home to the three-story, $34 million Great Lakes Aquarium, located on the waterfront in Duluth."
todmsg[2980]="One of the \"Seven Wonders of the Ancient World\" was a lighthouse, the famous Pharos of Alexandria in Egypt. It is the first lighthouse recorded in history and the tallest ever built, at 450 feet (comparable to a 45-story building). It used an open fire at"
todmsg[2981]="The first downtown mall in North America, Wellington Square, was built in London, Ontario, in 1960. It has since been transformed into a larger mall known as Galleria."
todmsg[2982]="Opened in 1904, the Waikiki Aquarium is famous for being the first in the world to capture and breed the chambered nautilus."
todmsg[2983]="The first gold brought back by Christopher Columbus from the Americas was used to gild the ceiling of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The ceiling and the gold are still there."
todmsg[2984]="Originally a palace, the Louvre was made into a museum after the French Revolution."
todmsg[2985]="The first lighthouse in England was built in 1619 at the Lizard, Cornwall. Local legend suggested the man that built it, Sir John Killigrew, was actually a pirate and wanted to lure ships close to the shore to plunder them."
todmsg[2986]="Outside Death Valley in California is a 134-foot steel-and-concrete thermometer in the tiny town of Baker, population 500. The immense, $750,000 East Mojave Desert landmark, built in 1991 to boost tourism, can be seen from five miles away so tourists traveling along the interstate know exactly how hot it is in the frequent record-holding \"hot spot\" in the nation."
todmsg[2987]="The first lighthouse to use electricity was the Statue of Liberty in 1886."
todmsg[2988]="Over half of the city of Frankfurt, Germany, was destroyed during World War II and the rebuilders decided to be innovative in the city's restoration. As a result, the Frankfurt skyline looks more like that of Chicago than of Germany. Frankfurt is now a thriving recreational center for the whole of Hesse, with a good selection of theatres, galleries, and museums."
todmsg[2989]="The first log cabins in North America were built in 1683 by Swedish immigrants in Delaware."
todmsg[2990]="Point Pinos is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the west coast of the United States. Its beacon has flashed nightly as a guide and warning off the rocky coast of California since 1855."
todmsg[2991]="The first manager of the Seattle Space Needle, Hoge Sullivan, was acrophobic – fearful of heights. The 605-foot-tall Space Needle is fastened to its foundation with 72 bolts, each 30 feet long. The Space Needle sways approximately 1 inch for every 10 mph of wind. It was built to withstand a wind velocity of 200 miles per hour."
todmsg[2992]="President George Washington oversaw construction of the White House, but he never lived there. It was the second U.S. president, John Adams, elected in 1796, who first lived in the White House. His term was nearly over by the time he moved in, and only six rooms had been completed."
todmsg[2993]="The first revolving restaurant, The Top of the Needle, was located at the 500-foot level of the 600-foot-high, steel-and-glass tower at the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle, Washington. It contained 260 seats and revolved 360 degrees in an hour. The state-of-the-art restaurant was dedicated on May 22, 1961."
todmsg[2994]="President James K. Polk's mansion was called Polk Place."
todmsg[2995]="Groundbreaking was set to happen in 1999 in Chicago, Illinois for a new skyscraper. Seven South Dearborn Avenue rose to a height of 1,550 feet at its rooftop, and an additional 450 feet of HDTV antennas was attached to its roof. This architectural marvel was inspired by the mast of a racing yacht and sits on a 200-foot lot. Currently, the world's tallest building is the Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Petronas Towers measures 1,483 feet."
todmsg[2996]="Early models of vacuum cleaners were powered by gasoline."
todmsg[2997]="ENIAC, the first electronic computer, appeared 50 years ago. The original ENIAC was about 80 feet long, weighed 30 tons, had 17,000 tubes. By comparison, a desktop computer today can store a million times more information than an ENIAC, and is 50,000 times faster."
todmsg[2998]="Ever image-conscious, MCI unveiled a new logo in March 1996, the fourth in the firm's 26-year history. The logo was tested in 40 languages — including Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic — to make sure there were no hidden meanings or offensive references."
todmsg[2999]="Excluding gasoline, the four basic fluids in a car are motor oil, transmission fluid, coolant, and wiper fluid."
todmsg[3000]="Fiat stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobile Torino, the name of the Italian manufacturer."
todmsg[3001]="Focus group information compiled by CalComp revealed that 50 percent of computer users do not like using a mouse."
todmsg[3002]="Forensic scientists can determine a person's sex, age, and race by examining a single strand of hair."
todmsg[3003]="From 9,000 pounds of roses, which totals about 55,000 blossoms, two pounds of costly rose essence can be extracted to be used as a component in fragrances."
todmsg[3004]="From bridges to rebar, rust is everywhere. According to a recent study, the annual cost of metallic corrosion in the United States is approximately $300 billion. The report, by the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, Washington, D.C., estimated that about one-third of that cost could be avoided through broader application of corrosion-resistant material and \"best anti-corrosive practice\" from design through maintenance."
todmsg[3005]="From the smallest microprocessor to the biggest mainframe, the average American depends on more than 264 computers per day."
todmsg[3006]="The Los Angeles Police Department uses a special computer program called HITMAN. HITMAN stands for \"Homicide Tracking Management Automation Network,\" and aides police in solving murders."
todmsg[3007]="The Magnum XL-200 in Ohio was the first roller coaster to crack the 200-foot height barrier."
todmsg[3008]="Mechanization and improved technology have made lighthouse keepers unnecessary. Today, all of the lighthouses in the United States have been automated, except the one at Boston, Massachusetts, which still has keepers for sentimental reasons only. Boston Light was the first one built on U.S. shores."
todmsg[3009]="The main rotor on an autogyro is not powered, its blades are kept rotating thanks to the motion of the aircraft through the air. The first successful flight in a rotary wing aircraft was made by Juan de la Cierva, in Madrid, on June 9, 1923. "
todmsg[3010]="Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, launched his business career in 1969, at age 14 by forming a company named Lakeside Programming Group. Gates and his friend Paul Allen signed an agreement with Computer Center Corporation to report bugs in PDP-10 software, in exchange for computer time."
todmsg[3011]="The maximum flight speed of a Boeing 747-300 jetliner is 583 miles per hour."
todmsg[3012]="Modern pewter is about 91 percent tin, 7.5 percent antimony, and 1.5 percent copper. Pewter used to contain high levels of lead, and the absence of it now makes pewter safe to use for dishes and drinking vessels."
todmsg[3013]="The most common uses of computers on the job in 1996 were: Bookkeeping and invoicing (45 percent), word processing (44 percent), communications (39 percent), analysis/spreadsheets (36 percent), and data bases (35 percent)."
todmsg[3014]="Most of the information available now is created by individuals instead of businesses. With e-mail transmissions alone, people are creating 500 times as much information as is contained in the total of all Web pages in existence."
todmsg[3015]="The oldest operating carousel in the United States can be found in the resort town of Watch Hill, Rhode Island."
todmsg[3016]="Mylar is a trademarked name for a certain type of polyester film, and should not be used when referring to all foil balloons."
todmsg[3017]="The Osprey is the U.S. Marines' tilt-rotor transport that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but flies like an airplane. It is also known as the V-22."
todmsg[3018]="Nail polish distributors Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with nail polish supplier Charles Lachman, who contributed the \"L\" in the Revlon name, gave birth to the Revlon cosmetics company in 1932. Starting with just one nail product – a nail enamel unlike any before it – the three men pooled their paltry resources and developed a unique manufacturing process. Using pigments instead of dyes, Revlon was able to offer to women rich-looking, opaque nail enamel in a wide variety of shades never before available. In only six years, the company became a multimillion dollar organization, launching one of the most recognized cosmetics names in the world."
todmsg[3019]="The profile of the average computer virus writer is age 14-24, talented, bright, and driven by a rebellious, adolescent need to call attention to himself."
todmsg[3020]="The term \"allopathy\" is used by homeopaths, chiropractors, and other advocates of alternative health practices to refer to traditional medicine."
todmsg[3021]="The letter \"W\" is the only letter in the English alphabet that doesn't have just one syllable – it has three."
todmsg[3022]="There is no synonym for thesaurus. The word is from Greek and means \"a treasure.\""
todmsg[3023]="The term \"atlas\" came into use in the late sixteenth century after the son of Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator published a book of his father's maps with a picture on the title page showing the Titan Atlas supporting the world on his shoulder."
todmsg[3024]="The letter \"X\" is used to represent unknown quantity, thanks to the Greeks. They translated the Arabic word for unknown, shei, into Xei which was shortened to \"X.\""
todmsg[3025]="To \"dandle\" is to dance a child up and down on the knee or in the arms."
todmsg[3026]="The term \"feather in your cap\" came from the American Indian tradition of obtaining feathers for headdresses. Birds were captured, some feathers plucked, and the birds were released. Each feather represented an act of bravery. The fashion of decorating hats with feathers declined in the twentieth century because too many birds were being slaughtered for their feathers."
todmsg[3027]="The letter \"Y\" was invented by Palamedes, one of the heroes of the Trojan War. He made its shape from the flight formation of cranes which he observed."
todmsg[3028]="To be \"knackered\" is to be tired, in Australian slang."
todmsg[3029]="The term \"happy-go-lucky\" has been in existence since 1665."
todmsg[3030]="The letters in the abbreviation e.g. stand for exempli gratia – a Latin term meaning \"for example.\""
todmsg[3031]="To be \"cashiered\" means to be dismissed in disgrace."
todmsg[3032]="The term \"hush money,\" meaning a bribe to keep someone form revealing scandalous or damaging information, was first used in the early 1700s."
todmsg[3033]="The letters in the acronym LED stand for light-emitting diode."
todmsg[3034]="To divide something into squares is to \"graticulate.\""
todmsg[3035]="The term \"Ivy League\" wasn't coined by the colleges involved, but by the sports pages of the New York Herald Tribune in the 1930s."
todmsg[3036]="The little metal ring or cap attached to or near the end of a cane or wooden handle (such as on a paint brush) to prevent splitting is called a ferrule. Its name was derived from the Latin \"viriola,\" meaning \"little bracelet.\""
todmsg[3037]="U-boat is a shortened form of the German submarine's full name of Unterseeboot, which means \"undersea boat.\""
todmsg[3038]="The term \"rhinestone,\" from the French caillou du Rhin, came to be because the colorless, hard-glass artificial gems were originally made at Strasbourg (on the Rhine)."
todmsg[3039]="The little-known verb \"gralloch\" means to disembowel a deer."
todmsg[3040]="Vikings would often enter a battle without armor or even a shirt after drinking buckets of ale. Their wild battle style was called \"berserk,\" Norse for \"bare shirt.\""
todmsg[3041]="The term \"sandlot baseball\" originated in San Francisco. The term dates to the 1860s when a cemetery that stands where the Civic Center is now located was converted into a park. A sand hill was leveled to create a 17-acre park, which became known as the sandlots."
todmsg[3042]="The little-used adjective \"tabescent\" means to waste or wither away."
todmsg[3043]="The term \"tall ship\" emerged in the 1890s in the twilight days of commercial sailing ships as nostalgia arose over the gradual disappearance of large square-rigged vessels. The term was popularized by John Masefield, a former mariner who became poet laureate of England in his poem \"Sea Fever\", published in 1902."
todmsg[3044]="Seals can sleep underwater and surface for air without even waking."
todmsg[3045]="Lungless salamanders are the largest group of salamanders. They have no lungs or gills and breathe through their skin, which must be kept damp to allow oxygen in. If they dry out, they will die of suffocation."
todmsg[3046]="Seals can withstand water pressure of up to 850 pounds per square inch."
todmsg[3047]="Macaws are the largest and most colorful species of the parrot family."
todmsg[3048]="Seals have back flippers that can’t bend under the body in order to walk on land, while sea lions use their leg-like hind flippers to \"walk\" on land."
todmsg[3049]="Made of mud, small stones, straw, and feathers, flamingos build nest mounds that can be as high as 12 inches (30 cm)."
todmsg[3050]="Mahimahi is dolphin, but not the mammal with the big brain and the need to surface to breath (like Flipper). The mahimahi is a fish, but the United Nations dubbed it \"dolphinfish\" to end the confusion."
todmsg[3051]="Male and female sea turtles are about the same size."
todmsg[3052]="Several poison-dart frog species are bred at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. There, researchers gauge the toxicity of poisonous species by taste. No danger is posed, because frogs caught in the wild gradually become less poisonous, and captive offspring are nontoxic. The change may be due to diet. The frog's natural menu — mostly tropical ants and springtails — cannot be duplicated in a terrarium. "
todmsg[3053]="Several salamanders make squeaking noises when disturbed, and the Pacific giant sends out a scream and a rattle to ward off enemies. Some salamander species arch their back like a bow with their head and neck up when molested. This is a bluff to make the attacker think the salamander is venomous."
todmsg[3054]="Sharks and rays are the only animals known to man that cannot succumb to cancer. Scientists believe this is related to the fact that they have no bone — only cartilage."
todmsg[3055]="Male boars form harems."
todmsg[3056]="Sharks can be dangerous even before they are born. Scientist Stewart Springer was bitten by a sand tiger shark embryo while he was examining its pregnant mother."
todmsg[3057]="Male cockatoos can be taught to speak, but females can only chirp and sing."
todmsg[3058]="Sharks can travel up to 40 miles per hour."
todmsg[3059]="Male epauletted bats have pouches in their shoulders, which contain large, showy patches of white fur that they flash during courtship to attract mates."
todmsg[3060]="Sharks' fossil records date back more than twice as long as that of the dinosaurs."
todmsg[3061]="Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same manner men do."
todmsg[3062]="Sharks have a sixth sense which enables them to detect bioelectrical fields radiated by other sea creatures and to navigate by sensing changes in the earth's magnetic field."
todmsg[3063]="Male moose have antlers 7 feet across. The antlers often weigh 60 pounds."
todmsg[3064]="Sharks lay the largest eggs in the world."
todmsg[3065]="Male sea lion may have more than 100 wives and sometimes go three months without eating."
todmsg[3066]="Sheep will not drink from running water. Hence, the line in the Twenty-third Psalm: \"He leadeth me beside the still waters.\""
todmsg[3067]="Male western fence lizards do push-ups on tree limbs as a courtship display for females."
todmsg[3068]="Whoopi Goldberg was a mortuary cosmetologist and a bricklayer before becoming an actress."
todmsg[3069]="The bards of the Irish royal houses composed countless songs which subsequently became part of the repertoire of the medieval troubadours. By these means, Celtic poetry dating back to the eighth century has survived."
todmsg[3070]="The Beatles' last concert took place August 29, 1966, before a crowd of 25,000 people in the 45,000-seat capacity Candlestick Park (now called 3Com Park). Although the group recorded together until 1970, they did not play live in concert after 1966 because of the frenzy and noise of the crowds. The last song they played was \"Long Tall Sally.\""
todmsg[3071]="William Claude Dukenfield was better known as W. C. Fields"
todmsg[3072]="The Beatles played the Las Vegas Convention Center in 1964. Some 8,500 fans paid just $4 each for tickets."
todmsg[3073]="The birth name of 'N Sync's J.C. Chasez was Joshua Scott Chasez."
todmsg[3074]="The Broadway musical A Chorus Line, written by James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch, and Edward Kleban, employed 510 different members during its record 15-year run at the Shubert Theatre."
todmsg[3075]="William Conrad was a former trumpet player and radio-drama writer and performer before turning exclusively to acting."
todmsg[3076]="William Goldman’s screenplay writing credits read like a formidable \"Who’s Who\" entry. Not only did he write the film classic \"The Stepford Wives\" (1975), but the novel and screenplay for \"The Princess Bride\" (1987). Other film writing credits include \"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\" (1969), \"The Great Waldo Pepper\" (1975), \"All the President’s Men\" (1976),\" Marathon Man\" (1976), \"Misery\" (1990), \"Maverick\" (1994), \"The General’s Daughter\" (1999), and \"Jurassic Park 3\" (2001). Goldman won two screenplay Oscars for \"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\" and \"All the President’s Men.\""
todmsg[3077]="William Holden asked for $750,000 plus 10 percent of the gross to play Capt. Keith Mallory in \"The Guns of Navarone\" (1961). After much discussion, he was turned down, and Gregory Peck was cast."
todmsg[3078]="The Broadway show Grease put performers John Travolta, Richard Gere, Marilu Henner, Treat Williams, and Barry Bostwick on the road to stardom."
todmsg[3079]="William Shatner is the CEO of the Toronto-based Core Digital Effects company that created the effects for the 1996 film \"Fly Away Home.\""
todmsg[3080]="The cello's real name is the violoncello."
todmsg[3081]="With the highly publicized fiery 1998 implosion of the 17-story, the 31-year-old landmark Las Vegas Aladdin hotel and casino became the fifth casino to be brought tumbling down since 1993. Previously imploded buildings along the Vegas strip included the once-opulent Dunes, Sands, Landmark, and Hacienda hotels. All were destroyed to make room for bigger, more-modern facilities. The Aladdin was the site of Elvis Presley's wedding to Priscilla Ann Wagner on May 1, 1967."
todmsg[3082]="The classic The Manchurian Candidate, with its full roster of stars headed by Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey, hit theaters in 1962. Its subject matter, the attempted assassination of a president, was too close for comfort following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The film was pulled from circulation, and wasn't released from its vault for TV viewing or VCR rental for many years."
todmsg[3083]="Write-in votes for the Academy Awards were disallowed after 1935."
todmsg[3084]="The closest that film star John Wayne came to military action was in 1944 during a three-month entertainment tour of Pacific bases. His boyhood wish of becoming a naval officer never came true, although he did come close to receiving an appointment to Annapolis. During World War II, he was rejected for military service. Wayne was never a cowboy, either. Odd jobs that \"The Duke\" held as a young man included those of fruit picker, iceman, truck driver, and movie propman. "
todmsg[3085]="William Shatner is the CEO of the Toronto-based Core Digital Effects company that created the effects for the 1996 film \"Fly Away Home.\""
todmsg[3086]="The cello's real name is the violoncello."
todmsg[3087]="With the highly publicized fiery 1998 implosion of the 17-story, the 31-year-old landmark Las Vegas Aladdin hotel and casino became the fifth casino to be brought tumbling down since 1993. Previously imploded buildings along the Vegas strip included the once-opulent Dunes, Sands, Landmark, and Hacienda hotels. All were destroyed to make room for bigger, more-modern facilities. The Aladdin was the site of Elvis Presley's wedding to Priscilla Ann Wagner on May 1, 1967."
todmsg[3088]="The classic The Manchurian Candidate, with its full roster of stars headed by Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey, hit theaters in 1962. Its subject matter, the attempted assassination of a president, was too close for comfort following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The film was pulled from circulation, and wasn't released from its vault for TV viewing or VCR rental for many years."
todmsg[3089]="Write-in votes for the Academy Awards were disallowed after 1935."
todmsg[3090]="The closest that film star John Wayne came to military action was in 1944 during a three-month entertainment tour of Pacific bases. His boyhood wish of becoming a naval officer never came true, although he did come close to receiving an appointment to Annapolis. During World War II, he was rejected for military service. Wayne was never a cowboy, either. Odd jobs that \"The Duke\" held as a young man included those of fruit picker, iceman, truck driver, and movie propman. "
todmsg[3091]="Yasmine Bleeth had her first modeling job when she was six months old."
todmsg[3092]="The comic strip \"Tarzan,\" created by artist Harold Foster, debuted in U.S. newspapers in 1929."
todmsg[3093]="Years back, popular American actor Charles Bronson (Death Wish) was selected by a failing Japanese hair gel company to be its celebrity spokesman. This was the company's last-ditch-effort advertising campaign. This debut of a \"gai-jin,\" or foreigner, was such an unexpected hit with Japanese consumers, the company changed its name to the name of the hair gel."
todmsg[3094]="The composer of the \"Nutcracker\" ballet, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, wasn’t that fond of the commission. What has become one of the most recognized ballet scores in the world was, according to Tchaikovsky, \"infinitely worse than ‘Sleeping Beauty’.\" "
todmsg[3095]="Zeppo Marx of Marx Brothers fame owned a patent for a wrist watch with a heart monitor."
todmsg[3096]="The composing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II earned many awards for the eleven musicals they wrote during their seventeen-year partnership, including two Pulitzer Prizes, one Emmy, two Grammys, two Tonys, and fifteen Academy Awards. Partial credits of the talented duo include The King and I, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, Flower Drum Song, Carousel, Show Boat, and Cinderella."
todmsg[3097]="Leaves don't actually change colors in the fall. They normally look green because they contain chlorophyll. When the leaf dies the chlorophyll disappears and the other colors, associated with substances that were there all along, emerge."
todmsg[3098]="Leaves, collected in the fall and spring, are the easiest material to compost, and they are the most common materials handled at yard waste facilities."
todmsg[3099]="Life expectancy of an American beech tree averages 275 years."
todmsg[3100]="Life preservers and the lining of aviators' jackets used during World War II were made from fiber found in milkweed pods."
todmsg[3101]="Lightning bolt charges can propagate for up to 100 miles; however, the actual channel of lightning is rarely larger than the width of a pen."
todmsg[3102]="Lightning bolts generate temperatures five times hotter than the 6,000° Centigrade found at the surface of the Sun."
todmsg[3103]="Lightning has hit the Empire State Building in New York as frequently as 12 times in 20 minutes. The building is hit by lightning about 500 times a year."
todmsg[3104]="Lightning kills more people in the United States than any other natural disaster: an average of 400 dead and 1,000 injured yearly."
todmsg[3105]="Lightning puts 10 million tons of nitrogen into the Earth each year."
todmsg[3106]="Lightning strikes the Earth 1,800 times at any moment."
todmsg[3107]="Wile E. Coyote has only caught the Road Runner once, on May 21, 1980."
todmsg[3108]="Lightning strikes the earth somewhere more than 17 million times every day, or about 200 times every second."
todmsg[3109]="The EPA says that gas-powered lawn mowers contribute to 7 percent of the ozone pollution in the United States."
todmsg[3110]="The Eternal God is a redwood tree in California that is believed to be 12,000 years old. That makes the tree four times older than the great pyramids in Egypt. Located in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, the Eternal is 238 feet tall and 19.6 feet in diameter."
todmsg[3111]="The fastest jet stream seen was found to be traveling at a speed of 408 miles per hour at height of 154,200 feet above South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland."
todmsg[3112]="Lightning travels 90,000 miles a second – almost half the speed of light."
todmsg[3113]="The fastest temperature change on record is a rise of 49° F in two minutes, from -4° to 45° F. This occurred in Spearfish, South Dakota, January 1943, between 7:30 and 7:32 a.m."
todmsg[3114]="Living as long as 40 years, cashew trees can grow up to 50 feet tall. Surprisingly, though, one entire tree only produces around 10 pounds of edible cashews a year, which is why cashews are so costly."
todmsg[3115]="The fiber of the stinging nettle was used to make the fine linen sheets upon which Mary, Queen of Scots, slept."
todmsg[3116]="Living creatures create tiny weather systems called microclimates in their nests and burrows. For instance, bees fan their wings at the hive entrance during hot weather. This makes a cooling draft blow through the hive."
todmsg[3117]="The first hurricane given a male name was \"Bob,\" in July 1979."
todmsg[3118]="Long before it was used as a \"kiss encourager\" during the Christmas season, mistletoe had long been considered to have magic powers by Celtic and Teutonic peoples. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits."
todmsg[3119]="The first known item made from aluminum was a rattle – made for Napoleon III in the 1850s. Napoleon also provided his most honored guests with knives and forks made of pure aluminum. At the time, the newly discovered metal was so rare, it was considered more valuable than gold."
todmsg[3120]="Many parts of a tree can die without killing the whole tree. In fact, much of a normal, healthy tree is dead — the wood in the center, for example."
todmsg[3121]="The flower of the Calla lily is 8 feet high and 12 feet wide. It is grown in Sumatra."
todmsg[3122]="The Germans do not typically serve potato salad cold, but warm or at room temperature. This reportedly aids in digestion. According to cooking show TV host Ursula, one way to rid yourself of a houseguest who has overstayed his welcome is to serve him ice-cold potato salad straight from the refrigerator. She claims it will upset his stomach, prompting him to think something is wrong with your food, and he'll leave sooner than intended."
todmsg[3123]="Pluck is the heart, spleen, liver, windpipe, and lungs of a meat animal."
todmsg[3124]="The government of Finland is in charge of manufacturing all of the nation's vodka, a role the government has performed for centuries, even though Finland is now a democracy."
todmsg[3125]="Poi, a Hawaiian/Polynesian dip, is made by cooking breadfruit, sweet potatoes, bananas, or taro root until it is soft enough to mash with water in a bowl. Cooked taro is very firm and has to be mashed with a strong hand. In earlier times, a stone and a pounding board would be used to mash it. Traditionally, Hawaiians preferred to let poi stand for a few days until it fermented and turned sour."
todmsg[3126]="The grapefruit was named for the way it grows in clusters, much like grapes, on the tree."
todmsg[3127]="Popcorn purchases went into a slump during the early 1950s, when television became popular. Attendance at movie theaters dropped and, with it, popcorn consumption. When the public eventually began eating popcorn at home, the new relationship between television and popcorn led to a popularity surge."
todmsg[3128]="Popcorn was banned at most movie theaters in the 1920s because it was considered too noisy."
todmsg[3129]="Popular in Chinese cuisine, jellyfish is sold in Asian markets in a dried, salted form, which must be reconstituted by soaking it overnight in warm water."
todmsg[3130]="The greater the skin to volume ratio of smaller grapes make for intensely flavorful Cabernets, Merlots, Chambourcins and other red wines."
todmsg[3131]="The groom's cake dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. At that time, the traditional wedding cake had evolved from a popular single-layer fruitcake into a stacked pound-cake shaped like a church steeple. But guests still wanted fruitcake. To appease the masses, newlyweds would serve two cakes — the wedding cake and the fruitcake. The wedding cake was eaten at the reception; the fruitcake, or the groom's cake (as it soon became known), was sliced and boxed for guests to take home. Legend was that an unmarried woman who placed her slice under her pillow would dream of her husband-to-be. Two cakes — especially in the southern United States — continued to be offered to wedding guests until after World War II."
todmsg[3132]="The herring is the most widely eaten fish in the world. Nutritionally, its fuel value is that equal to that of a beefsteak."
todmsg[3133]="Popular in the Netherlands is a mixture of string beans and navy beans. The Dutch call the dish a \"blote billetjes in bet gras,\" which translates as, \"bare buttocks in the grass.\""
todmsg[3134]="The Hershey Foods Corporation can produce 33 million Hershey's Kisses in one day of production."
todmsg[3135]="Post Grape-Nuts, the cereal that is neither a grape nor a nut, is made from natural wheat and barley. This unique, naturally sweet cereal was created in 1897 by C.W. Post who named it GRAPE-NUTS: \"Grape\" because it contained maltose, which C.W. called \"grape sugar,\" and \"Nuts\" because of its flavor."
todmsg[3136]="The higher the fat content in a cheese, the faster it will melt."
todmsg[3137]="Potato chips are the Number 1 selling snack in the United States. Statistics show that they accompany lunch 32 percent of the time and dinner 18 percent of the time."
todmsg[3138]="The highly seasoned stew of meat or fish called ragout (rhymes with \"blue\") is prepared without vegetables. The name is derived from French and means \"to restore the appetite of.\""
todmsg[3139]="Potatoes are the most popular vegetable among Americans. Second and third place go to head lettuce and onions, respectively."
todmsg[3140]="The huckleberry has ten small, hard seeds in its center."
todmsg[3141]="Potatoes were banned in Burgundy in 1910 because it was believed \"frequent use caused leprosy.\""
todmsg[3142]="The ice cream cone was introduced in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair when a waffle vendor rolled waffles into the shape of a cone for an ice cream vendor at an adjoining booth."
todmsg[3143]="Prepared mustard can be stored for at least 2 years."
todmsg[3144]="The Inca Indians of Panama tie a string of chiles behind their boats and lower it into the water to repel sharks."
todmsg[3145]="President Ronald Reagan made the gourmet Jelly Bellys a staple in the Oval Office and on Air Force One. Reagan’s passion for these jelly beans was an advertiser's dream come true, and inspired the company to produce the flavor blueberry. It was invented so red, white, and blue jelly beans could be served at Reagan's inaugural party."
todmsg[3146]="Colorado's capital of Denver is the largest metro city in a 600-mile radius – an area almost the size of Europe."
todmsg[3147]="Daily average yield of an oil well at full production in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field is 10,000 barrels. In the other 48 states, the average is only 11 barrels."
todmsg[3148]="Death Valley in southern California is the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level. The highest point in the contiguous 48 states is also in California: Mount Whitney, which is 14,491 feet above sea level."
todmsg[3149]="Denver has the nation's largest city park system, with more than 200 parks within city limits and 20,000 acres of parks in the nearby mountains – an area larger than all of Manhattan Island."
todmsg[3150]="Devils Tower in Wyoming, the world-famous, nearly vertical monolith rises 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. Known by several northern plains tribes as Bears Lodge, it is a sacred site of worship for many American Indians. Scientists are still undecided as to what exactly caused the natural wonder, although they agree that it is the remnant of an ancient volcanic feature."
todmsg[3151]="Diamond Head Crater is Hawaii’s most famous landmark. The United States Army built a trail up the crater in 1908, and added bunkers during World War II. The trail passes through an old gun emplacement."
todmsg[3152]="During the nineteenth century, Michigan was a key stop on the Underground Railroad, and many runaway slaves decided to make their homes there. Currently, 14 percent of Michigan's population is African American."
todmsg[3153]="Miami Beach, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Palm Beach, Pacific Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach — there are scores of U.S. coastal cities and towns with \"beach\" in their names. Surprisingly, there's only one city in the United States named merely \"Beach.\" It is found in North Dakota, which is a land-locked state."
todmsg[3154]="Miami, Florida, is the most southerly major city in the continental United States, sitting about two degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer."
todmsg[3155]="Michigan was the first U.S. state to have road-side picnic tables."
todmsg[3156]="Monarch butterflies, migrating to Pacific Grove, California, for better than a century, have given the city the nickname \"Butterfly Town USA.\" The butterflies are fiercely protected by local citizens and by law."
todmsg[3157]="Monterey Canyon is an underwater canyon just offshore in Monterey Bay. It is about as big and as deep as the Grand Canyon, stretching 60 miles (100 km) out to sea."
todmsg[3158]="During World War II, Ellis Island in New York's harbor was a detention center for illegal or criminal aliens already in the United States. The Coast Guard also trained recruits there. Following the war, fewer people were detained and the facility was closed in 1954. New Jersey has sovereignty over most of Ellis Island."
todmsg[3159]="Each tour through Natural Bridge Caverns in Texas covers ¾ mile. An average tour guide will walk almost 560 miles in one year while on the job."
todmsg[3160]="Even though Hawaii has one state flower, the hibiscus rosa-sinensis, which blooms with the sun rise and closes with the sunset, each of the main islands also have an official flower of their own."
todmsg[3161]="Filled with water, gas, electric, telephone, cable, steam, and sewer lines, Manhattan is the most dense underground site in the United States."
todmsg[3162]="When 34-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous \"I Have a Dream\" speech on August 28, 1963, it became the site of the largest crowd ever assembled to date to hear a speech in America. More than 200,000 people gathered as close as they could near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., where Dr. King spoke."
todmsg[3163]="When Albert Einstein left Germany in 1933, the Nazis put a price of 20,000 marks on his head."
todmsg[3164]="When Argentine president Juan Perón died on July 1, 1974, he was succeeded by his wife and vice president, Isabel, who became the first woman president in the Western Hemisphere."
todmsg[3165]="When asked about the unexpected impact she had on the women's liberation movement with her 1970s blockbuster song \"I Am Woman,\" singer Helen Reddy admitted, \"I certainly didn't hear it as a hit. I didn't hear it as an anthem.\""
todmsg[3166]="When Elihu Yale gave $2,500 to the Collegiate School, its name was changed to Yale University, and when John Harvard bequeathed $3,500 and a small library to Cambridge College, its name was changed to Harvard University."
todmsg[3167]="When insurance on ships and their cargoes was introduced in 14th-century Europe, it met opposition on the grounds that it was an attempt to defeat financial disasters willed by God."
todmsg[3168]="When Jefferson Davis was Secretary of the War in the U.S. government, he increased the size of the military, approved the use of the new rifle musket, and made other improvements. All these accomplishments of his contributed to the defeat of the Confederacy in later years."
todmsg[3169]="When officials in one city sought champagne in 1927 to welcome aviator Charles Lindbergh back after his historic transatlantic flight, they were told by a tavern keeper that the sale would be illegal unless medicinal or religious need was shown. After securing vouchers provided by several churches, police officers returned a little later for the champagne."
todmsg[3170]="In 1964, the United States became involved in the Vietnam War for the first time."
todmsg[3171]="In 1969, residents voted to allow alcohol in Pacific Grove, the last \"dry town\" in the state of California."
todmsg[3172]="In 1971 London Bridge was purchased by an American, and shipped to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, to be displayed as a tourist attraction. Legend has it that the purchaser thought he was actually buying Tower Bridge."
todmsg[3173]="In 1988, the American Congress awarded $20,000 and an apology to the Japanese Americans forced into camps during World War II."
todmsg[3174]="In 1990, the children's classic My Friend Flicka was pulled from the optional reading lists for 5th- and 6th-graders in Clay County, Florida, because the book reportedly used objectionable language."
todmsg[3175]="In 1993, Kim Campbell was elected the first woman prime minister of Canada."
todmsg[3176]="In 1995, Jeffrey Dahmer’s parents agreed to preserve his brain for research, and had his body cremated. In a highly publicized, macabre trial, Dahmer was found guilty of killing 16 boys and men – dismembering and cannibalizing some – and was sentenced in 1992 to life in prison. He was clubbed to death November 28, 1994 by an inmate. Dahmer’s body was in the custody of the medical examiner; it was kept in a freezer for over a year."
todmsg[3177]="In 1995, Viking Books agreed to pay Marcia Clark a reported $4.2 million for the prosecutor's account of how she lost the infamous O.J. Simpson murder case."
todmsg[3178]="In 1996, Superman teamed up with the United Nations, UNICEF, the U.S. Department of Defense, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to teach children in war-ravaged Bosnia-Herzegovina about land mine safety. DC Comics published the issue \"Superman: Deadly Legacy\" in three languages, and copies were distributed free."
todmsg[3179]="In 1999, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary became the newest members of NATO."
todmsg[3180]="In 4400 B.C., the first horses were domesticated in Eastern Europe. This was the first time horses were used for riding."
todmsg[3181]="In 625 B.C., metal coins were introduced in Greece. They replaced grain — usually barley — as the medium of exchange. Stamped with a likeness of an ear of wheat, the new coins were lighter and easier to transport than grain, and did not get moldy."
todmsg[3182]="In 700 A.D., the largest city in the Americas was Teotihuacan, found in central Mexico. The city belonged to the Mayan civilization and was home to over 100,000 people and 600 pyramids."
todmsg[3183]="In a first-of-its-kind business arrangement, Visa International signed a $3 million deal in 1993 to become the official credit card of Atlanta, the host city of the 1996 Summer Olympics."
todmsg[3184]="In ancient Athens, the olive tree was considered sacred. With all of its fruit belonging to the state, the death penalty was imposed on anyone caught cutting one down."
todmsg[3185]="In ancient China, people committed suicide by eating a pound of salt."
todmsg[3186]="The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, called Gandhi Jayanti, is celebrated on October 2 in India. Gandhi was considered the \"Father of the Nation,\" and on this day, special prayers are offered at the Gandhi Samadhi at Rajghat, Delhi, and celebrations are held all over the country."
todmsg[3187]="The British still enjoy a May Day holiday, which was traditionally a Celtic festival called Beltane, when the beginning of summer was greeted with great bonfires in honour of the sun."
todmsg[3188]="In one day, the human brain generates more electrical impulses than all the telephones in the world put together. The nerve impulses can travel as fast as 170 miles per hour."
todmsg[3189]="In one minute of breathing, the average human takes in 14 pints (6 liters) of air."
todmsg[3190]="In one square inch of skin there are 3 yards of blood vessels, 3 million cells, 4 yards of nerve fiber, 1,300 nerve cells, and 100 sweat glands."
todmsg[3191]="In one year, the average human heart circulates from 770,000 to 1.6 million gallons of blood through the body. This is enough fluid to fill 200 tank cars, each with a capacity of 8,000 gallons."
todmsg[3192]="In the adult human body, there are 46 miles of nerves."
todmsg[3193]="In the afternoon, your feet are bigger than at any other time of the day."
todmsg[3194]="In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Prussian surgeons treated stutterers by snipping off portions of their tongues."
todmsg[3195]="In the past few years, doctors have identified more than 100 sleep disorders, but the one most people suffer from is simply not taking the time to get enough sleep."
todmsg[3196]="In the past one hundred years, the average American’s lifespan has risen by more than 30 years."
todmsg[3197]="In the past ten years, organ donors have saved more lives and improved the quality of living for more Americans than the United States lost in the Korean and Vietnam wars combined."
todmsg[3198]="In the second it takes to turn the page of a book, you will lose about 3 million red blood cells. During that same second, your bone marrow will have produced the same number of new ones."
todmsg[3199]="In the time it takes to read this sentence, 50,000 cells in your body will die and be replaced with new cells."
todmsg[3200]="Innate immunity means you were born with an immunity to germ. Acquired immunity is gained by exposure to or immunization from a germ."
todmsg[3201]="Iridescent beetle shells were the source of the earliest eye glitter ever used – devised by the ancient Egyptians."
todmsg[3202]="It has been determined that one brow wrinkle is the result of 200,000 frowns."
todmsg[3203]="It has been medically proven that pessimism raises blood pressure. The more pessimistic a person is, the more likely he or she is to die earlier than optimistic counterparts."
todmsg[3204]="A single ant colony can include over 5-million busy members - soliders and workers (undeveloped females never have wings and cannot mate), males (can mate with the queen), and the queen."
todmsg[3205]="A snail breathes through the upper part of its foot, near the shell."
todmsg[3206]="A spider is not an insect. It is an arachnid – it has eight legs instead of six, and has no wings or antennae. The same is true of the daddy longlegs, scorpion's mite, and tick – none is technically part of the insect class."
todmsg[3207]="A strand in the web of a golden spider is as strong as a steel wire of the same thickness."
todmsg[3208]="A strand of spider web may be stronger than an equal diameter of steel."
todmsg[3209]="A superstition says that a daddy longlegs can find lost cows. If you’re missing a cow, legend has it that if you hold a daddy longlegs by its back legs, one of its front legs will point in the direction of the missing cattle."
todmsg[3210]="A type of sea slug called a chiton has iron teeth."
todmsg[3211]="A typical bed usually houses more than 6 billion dust mites."
todmsg[3212]="A winkle is an edible sea snail."
todmsg[3213]="About 110 domestic silkworm cocoons are needed to make a man's tie."
todmsg[3214]="According to some estimates, the bugs that spiders eat in one year weigh as much as all the people on earth."
todmsg[3215]="According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the best time to spray household insects is 4:00 p.m. Insects are most vulnerable at this time."
todmsg[3216]="Adult goatweed butterflies play dead when handled."
todmsg[3217]="After mating, the female black widow spider turns on her partner and devours him. The female may dispatch as many as 25 suitors a day in this manner."
todmsg[3218]="All male mosquitoes are vegetarians."
todmsg[3219]="Amazon army ants sometimes travel in groups up to 20 million strong."
todmsg[3220]="Giant crab spiders have such a ferocious appearance they earned a spot as extras in the horror film Arachnophobia. The creatures, however, eat cockroaches, crickets, and caterpillars, more than compensating for their scary appearance. Giant crab spiders are about 2 inches long, are hairy, and have noticeable black fangs and black feet. Their egg sac is the size of a golf ball."
todmsg[3221]="Giant hornet workers capture a variety of insects, including bees and yellowjackets, to feed their young. Workers strip back bark from shrubs – a favorite is lilac. As they girdle the branches, they lick the sap from the torn edge."
todmsg[3222]="Green darners are large, high-flying dragonflies. They can present a problem for beekeepers because they readily prey on bees."
todmsg[3223]="Gypsy moth larvae are very mobile. They also have a voracious, devastating appetite. Gypsy moth larvae have the potential to defoliate more than 2 million acres of Northeastern U.S. forests per year. In 1869, a Massachusetts naturalist imported gypsy moths from France, hoping to cross them with the American silk moth and create a hardy thread-making caterpillar. Not only did his experiment fail, but disaster resulted when some of the moths escaped. Each generation of offspring, floating in the breeze on tiny sails of spun silk and body hairs, can be carried further than 20 miles away."
todmsg[3224]="Honeybees have hair on their eyes."
todmsg[3225]="Honeybees have shown a preference for yellow and blue flowers."
todmsg[3226]="Honeybees navigate using the Sun as a compass, even when it is hidden behind clouds – they find it via the polarization of ultraviolet light from areas of blue sky."
todmsg[3227]="George Washington Carver developed more unconventional products from the peanut and its oils than anyone in history. For grooming, he came up with shaving cream, face cream, soap, and shampoo – all made from the lowly peanut."
todmsg[3228]="Glue dates back to prehistoric times. Artists once mixed colorings with raw eggs, dried blood, and plant juices to make sticky paints for cave murals. Later, ancient Egyptians and other peoples learned to make stronger glues by boiling animal bones and hides."
todmsg[3229]="Hair salons in Britain in the 1870s concocted their own shampoos from varying amounts of water, soda, and bar soap."
todmsg[3230]="Hans Berger created the electroencephalograph (EEG) in 1924. By attaching 2 pieces of silver to his son’s head and connecting wires between them and a galvanometer, he recorded electrical signals emanating from the brain."
todmsg[3231]="Heinrich W. Brandes made the first weather map in 1815, based on data gathered in 1783. Brandes waited so long because it was the only way he could be certain the information was correct."
todmsg[3232]="Henri Nestlé was originally a baby food manufacturer. His work and research with condensed milk aided Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter in inventing a method to successfully combine chocolate and milk in a solid form — the first milk chocolate — in 1875."
todmsg[3233]="Henry D. Perky and William Ford received a patent in August 1893 on a machine for making the shreds, or filaments, of wheat for shredded wheat biscuits. The duo later formed The Cereal Machine Company in Denver to manufacture them."
todmsg[3234]="Henry Ford called his first car a quadricycle."
todmsg[3235]="Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. It was the invention of several 19th-century engineers, paramount among them being two Germans: Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz. What Ford did accomplish was to mass-produce automobiles and provide affordable service for them."
todmsg[3236]="The first foghorn was used at a Boston lighthouse in 1719; it was a cannon. The lighthouse keeper had to fire the cannon every hour when there was fog to warn nearby ships. The hourly booming kept townspeople awake through the night, so other long-range s"
todmsg[3237]="The first hot air balloon to carry passengers was invented by the Montgolfier brothers in France in 1783. It flew five miles. The air in a hot air balloon is about 212o F."
todmsg[3238]="Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972), the mother of 12 children, had good reason to improve the efficiency and convenience of household items. A pioneer in ergonomics, Gilbreth patented many devices, including an electric food mixer, and the trash can with step-on lid-opener that can be found in most households today."
todmsg[3239]="The first jet passenger airliner was the de Havilland Comet, which serviced the British Overseas Airways starting in May of 1952."
todmsg[3240]="Linus Yale patented the pin lock, or Yale lock, on May 6, 1851. Yale drew his inspiration from the Egyptian pin-and-bolt locks which were made of wood."
todmsg[3241]="The first lightweight luggage designed for air travel was conceived by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart."
todmsg[3242]="Lithiated Lemon was the creation of Charles Griggs from Missouri, who introduced the lemon-lime drink in 1929. Four years later, he renamed it 7-Up. Sales increased significantly."
todmsg[3243]="The first lithographed American lunchbox appeared in 1902. It was shaped like a picnic basket and had children at play painted on it."
todmsg[3244]="Louis Jaques Mandé Daguerre agreed with the French government to disclose his secret photographic process to the public in exchange for an annual pension of 6000 francs."
todmsg[3245]="The first patent issued for modern suspenders – those with the familiar metal clasp – was issued in October 1894."
todmsg[3246]="M. R. Bissell had a china shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was allergic to the dusty straw scattered on the floor after unpacking china from crates. So, he invented the first carpet sweeper in 1876 to clean up the mess and protect his sinuses."
todmsg[3247]="The first plastic ever invented was celluloid. It came about as an alternative for billiard balls made from ivory."
todmsg[3248]="Madame Alexander dolls were the creation of Beatrice Alexander Behrman, the daughter of Russian immigrants. Mrs. Behrman, whose father operated New York's first doll \"hospital,\" started making dolls in 1923. Her creations soon became famous for their molded heads and limbs, lifelike eyes, rooted hair, and elaborate costumes. Mrs. Behrman sold the company to several New York investors in 1988, two years before she died at age 95. But America's first doll manufacturer has not compromised her high standard of quality and unique craftsmanship. Today, most of the company's manufacturing is still done in Harlem, New York, and more than 500,000 dolls a year are sold."
todmsg[3249]="The first portable calculator placed on sale by Texas Instruments weighed only 2.5 pounds and cost a mere $150 in 1972."
todmsg[3250]="Many hair sprays (which are really just adhesives for the hair) are made largely of cellulose, the major ingredient of the cell walls of plants. Ethyl cellulose adhesives dry quickly, do not remain tacky, and wash out with water."
todmsg[3251]="Fire walking is a religious ceremony practiced in many parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent, Malaya, Japan, China, Fiji Islands, Tahiti, Society Islands, New Zealand, Mauritius, Bulgaria, and Spain. It was also practiced in classical Greece and in ancient India and China. The most common practice is of walking swiftly over a layer of embers spread thinly along the bottom of a shallow trench. Sometimes the devotees or priests walk through a blazing log fire. Instead of embers from a wood fire, in Fiji and Mauritius there may be red-hot stones, or embers may be poured over the devotee's head in a \"fire bath.\""
todmsg[3252]="For a time, it was the custom to use eggs as a form of currency in France. Once a year, poverty-stricken clerics and students trudged through the streets of Paris, carrying an egg basket, and collected what they could."
todmsg[3253]="For hundreds of years, the Chinese zealously guarded the secret of sericulture; imperial law decreed death by torture to those who disclosed how to make silk."
todmsg[3254]="French law stipulates that to be called \"Roquefort,\" a cheese must come only from that village in France, but the name is used, imitated, and abused widely."
todmsg[3255]="From all levels of government, Americans get 175,000 new laws and two million new regulations every year."
todmsg[3256]="From earliest times, people pierced their ears, nose, and bellybutton as a superstitious practice. The holes produced were thought to release demons from the body. In Europe during the Renaissance, wearing just one earring was considered the height of fashion."
todmsg[3257]="Gift giving is very important in Japan, but extravagant gifts require an equally or slightly more extravagant gift in return. Always avoid giving pricey gifts. It is polite to belittle the value of your gift or food when you offer it, even if it's obviously untrue."
todmsg[3258]="Government regulations prohibit bringing in fresh, dried, and canned meats or meat products from most foreign countries. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service estimates that it uncovers more than 3,000 violations a month at international airports, seaports, and border ports."
todmsg[3259]="Lewis W. Hine studied sociology at Chicago and New York universities, became a teacher, then took up photography as a means of expressing his social concerns. His first photo essay featured Ellis Island immigrants. In 1908, Hine left teaching for a full-time job as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, which was campaigning against the exploitation of American children. From 1908 to 1912, Hine took his camera across America to photograph children, some as young as three years old, working for long hours, often under dangerous conditions, in factories, mines, and fields. Hine was an immensely talented photographer who viewed his young subjects with a humanitarian eye. In 1909, he published the first of many photo essays depicting working children at risk."
todmsg[3260]="North Carolina is the home of the Wright Brothers' National Monument and Visitor Center, near Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. The center contains a recently refurbished replica of the original Wright Flyer as well as other \"First Flight\" memorabilia. The center commemorates one of America's historic moments. A nearby sand dune supports the Memorial Pylon. On the grounds, there are historical markers and a reconstructed hanger and shop. Called Chickahauk by native Indians, some believe \"Kitty Hawk\" is the closest English pronunciation of the Indian phrase meaning \"goose hunting grounds.\" Once a remote area, Kitty Hawk has grown into a summer resort area and provides some of the best beach recreation on the North Carolina coast."
todmsg[3261]="Greece, the cradle of democracy, granted women the vote in national election only in 1952."
todmsg[3262]="New York was the first state to require the licensing of motor vehicles. The law was adopted in 1901."
todmsg[3263]="No patent can ever be taken out on a gambling machine in the United States."
todmsg[3264]="In Japan, frogs are the symbols of good luck."
todmsg[3265]="No two-cycle engines are allowed in Singapore. The license fee for a new car is small, about $5, but as the vehicle grows older, the fee increases. When the auto reaches 8 years old, it is no longer allowed on the streets. This is opposite of the license-fee structure in the United States. While strict, Singapore's auto law has virtually wiped out air pollution in the country."
todmsg[3266]="In Japan, some restaurants serve smaller portions to women even though the charge is the same as a men's portion."
todmsg[3267]="Officials of ancient Greece decreed that mollusk shells be used as ballots, because once a vote was scratched on the shell, it couldn't be erased or altered."
todmsg[3268]="In Japan, the dragonfly symbolizes good luck, courage, and manliness. Japanese warriors customarily wore the dragonfly emblem in battle."
todmsg[3269]="On April 10, 1946, women voted for the first time in Japan."
todmsg[3270]="In Kentucky, it is against the law to throw eggs at a public speaker."
todmsg[3271]="On August 12, 1895, Minnie Dean became the first woman to be hanged in New Zealand. Her crime was \"baby farming.\" She would adopt unwanted babies for a certain fee and then dispose of them, a \"service\" she began in 1889. The police caught on to Minnie after six years, and she was found to be most certainly guilty when they dug up three bodies of infants in her flower garden."
todmsg[3272]="In London, England, it is illegal to drive a car without sitting in the front seat."
todmsg[3273]="On average in the United States, 150,000 new laws and about 2 million new regulations from various local, state, and federal governments are put into place every year."
todmsg[3274]="In London, it is a 24-hour detainment if caught sticking gum under a seat on the upper deck of a bus."
todmsg[3275]=" On January 21, 1908, a law was passed in New York City making it illegal for women to smoke in public."
todmsg[3276]="In Massachusetts, snoring is prohibited unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked and it is illegal to go to bed without first having a full bath."
todmsg[3277]="Leonardo da Vinci was the first to suggest using contact lenses to see, back in 1508."
todmsg[3278]="Isaac Newton's only recorded utterance while he was a member of Parliament was a request to open the window."
todmsg[3279]="Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia became the first woman U.S. senator on October 3, 1922."
todmsg[3280]="Offa, king of Mercia (757-796),.was considered the greatest Anglo-Saxon ruler in the eighth century. He was responsible for established a new currency based on the silver penny which, with many changes of design, was the standard coin of England for many centuries."
todmsg[3281]="Leonardo da Vinci wrote notebook entries in mirror (backwards) script, a trick that kept many of his observations from being widely known until decades after his death. It is believed that he was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo observed."
todmsg[3282]="Ishi was believed to be the last of the Yahi, a tribe of Native Americans living in California until they were killed off by disease and massacres. He came out of the wood near Oroville in 1911, and was taken to the University of California where he helped document the Yahi language."
todmsg[3283]="Humphrey Bogart's ashes are in an urn that also contains a small gold whistle. Lauren Bacall had the whistle inscribed \"If you need anything, just whistle\" – the words she spoke to him in their first film together, To Have and Have Not."
todmsg[3284]="Rebecca Webb Pennock became the first woman in the United States to run an iron-making business in 1825, after her husband’s death left her a poor widow of 31 with 6 children. The ironworks was located at the Brandywine Rolling Mill in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and was originally leased by Rebecca’s husband from her father for $420 a year. "
todmsg[3285]="On \"forever-39\" Jack Benny's 80th birthday, Frank Sinatra gave him two copies of the book \"Life Begins at Forty.\""
todmsg[3286]="Leonardo da Vinci's name for the Mona Lisa was \"La Gioconda.\" It was named for the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The painting was in progress during 1503-1506."
todmsg[3287]="It is believed that St. Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary, although she is not mentioned in the Bible. Fittingly, St. Anne is the patron saint of grandmothers, mothers, and women in labor."
todmsg[3288]="Ida May Fuller of Brattlebor, Vermont was the first U.S. citizen to receive a Social Security check. She lived to be over 100 and collected her first check in 1940. She collected over $20,000 in total benefits."
todmsg[3289]="Recording star Vanilla Ice's real name is Robert Van Winkle."
todmsg[3290]="On any given day, more than 673,600 people in the United States are celebrating a birthday."
todmsg[3291]="Leslie McFarlane of Haileybury, Ontario, wrote the first 20 books in the famous Hardy Boys series under the pen name of Franklin W. Dixon. They were among the best-selling boys' books of their time, but McFarlane received no royalties."
todmsg[3292]="It is common for white-collar Japanese employees to leave the office only after their superiors have done so.   "
todmsg[3293]="If the arm of King Henry I of England had been 42 inches long, the unit of measure of a \"foot\" today would be fourteen inches. But his arm happened to be 36 inches long and he decreed that the \"standard\" foot should be one-third that length: 12 inches."
todmsg[3294]="Rembrandt's last name was van Rijn."
todmsg[3295]="On April 5, 1978, triplets were born to an Israeli Arab at the Assaf Harofeh Hospital. The babies' parents, according to researcher Bruce D. Witherspoon, named them Carter, Begin, and Sadat."
todmsg[3296]="It is improper for women in Japan to go to a high-powered business meeting in a pantsuit. "
todmsg[3297]="Remembered primarily as a poet, John Keats was also a licensed physician. He correctly diagnosed the consumption, or tuberculosis, that tragically claimed his life at the young age of 26."
todmsg[3298]="On August 25, 1875, Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel."
todmsg[3299]="Barnard's star is approaching the Sun at a speed of 87 miles/second. By the year 11800, it will be the closest star to us."
todmsg[3300]="Because it is pouring energy out into space so rapidly, the Sun is a weight equivalent to a million elephants to a million elephants every second."
todmsg[3301]="Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds."
todmsg[3302]="Because total absence of life on the moon had been satisfactorily determined, NASA did not bother to quarantine the Apollo 14 astronauts on their return to earth after the third moon mission."
todmsg[3303]="Being made up of mainly gas, the entire planet of Saturn would float in water."
todmsg[3304]="Besides Earth, only Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have known magnetic fields."
todmsg[3305]="By the year 14000 A.D., the new North Star will be Vega."
todmsg[3306]="California-born Dr. Sally Kirsten Ride was the first American woman to go into outer space. Starting in physics at Swarthmore College, she finished at Stanford University, earning her B.S. in physics and B.A. in English literature. She received her doctorate at Stanford University. At age 27, Ride was the first American woman in space on the shuttle Challenger's 1983 mission (STS-7). Her next flight was an eight-day mission in 1984, again on Challenger (STS 41-G). Her cumulative hours of space flight are more than 343."
todmsg[3307]="Carbon dioxide makes up 97 percent of Venus’s atmosphere."
todmsg[3308]="Comets speed up as they approach the Sun – sometimes reaching speeds of over a million miles per hour. Far away from the Sun, speeds drop, perhaps down to as little as 700 miles per hour."
todmsg[3309]="The Andromeda galaxy is the largest member of our local group of galaxies. The Milky Way is second largest in this group."
todmsg[3310]="The Andromeda galaxy is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. It is about 12 billion billion miles away."
todmsg[3311]="In the famous words of Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, \"_____, we have a problem.\" Lovell's actual words were \"Houston, \"we've had\" a problem.\""
todmsg[3312]="The atmosphere of Mars is relatively moist. However, because the atmosphere is thin, the total amount of water in the atmosphere is minimal. If all the water in the atmosphere of Mars was collected, it would likely only fill a small pond."
todmsg[3313]="In the history of the solar system, 30 billion comets have been lost or destroyed. That amounts to only 30 percent of the estimated number that remain."
todmsg[3314]="The average meteor, though brilliantly visible in the nighttime sky, is no larger than a grain of sand. Even the largest and brightest meteors, known as fireballs, rarely exceed the size of a pea."
todmsg[3315]="In the Middle Ages, millions of people believed that the stars were beams of light shining through the floor of Heaven."
todmsg[3316]="The average surface temperature of the outer planets – Uranus, Neptune, Pluto – is about -364° F, 11 times colder than inside a home freezer."
todmsg[3317]="It has been estimated that at least a million meteors have hit the Earth's land surface, which is only 25 percent of the planet. Every last trace of more than 99 percent of the craters thus formed has vanished, erased by wind, water, and living things."
todmsg[3318]="The brightest asteroid is called Vesta. It has a diameter of 335 miles and is the only asteroid visible to the unaided eye."
todmsg[3319]="It is estimated by scientists that the universe contains 0.0000000000000000000000000000001 grams of matter per cubic centimeter of space. It is also estimated that the universe is 35 billion light years in size, or 210,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles."
todmsg[3320]="The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, the Dog Star. The second brightest star is Canopus, which is only visible in the Southern Hemisphere."
todmsg[3321]="It is estimated that within the entire universe, there are more than a trillion galaxies."
todmsg[3322]="The brightness of a star is called its magnitude. The smaller the magnitude is, the brighter the star is."
todmsg[3323]="In 1935, Jesse Owens set six track and field world records in a single day in Ann Arbor, Michigan--all in less than an hour.<br><br>In 1935, Jesse Owens set six track and field world records in less than one hour."
todmsg[3324]="In 1958, Jay Foster won the national table tennis championship on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. He was 8 years old."
todmsg[3325]="In 1967 Billie Jean King was selected as \"Outstanding Female Athlete of the World.\" In 1972 she was named Sports Illustrated's \"Sportsperson of the Year,\" the first woman to be so honored. In 1973, she was nicknamed \"Female Athlete of the Year.\" Additionally, King was the first female athlete to win more than $100,000 prize money in a single season."
todmsg[3326]="In 1986, Greg LeMond was the first rider representing the USA to win the Tour de France."
todmsg[3327]="Sugar Ray Robinson was the first ex-boxing champion to return from retirement and win back his title. He was also the first boxer to win the middleweight title three times when he knocked out Carl \"Bobo\" Olson in the second round of their Chicago bout on December 9, 1955."
todmsg[3328]="Table tennis was originally played with balls made from champagne corks and paddles made from cigar-box lids. It was created in the 1880s by James Gibb, a British engineer who wanted an invigorating game he could play indoors when it was raining. Named \"Gossima,\" the game was first marketed with celluloid balls, which replaced Gibb's corks. After the equipment manufacturer renamed the game \"Ping-Pong\" in 1901, it became a hot seller."
todmsg[3329]="Born in Missouri, Harry Truman wholly despised the \"Missouri Waltz,\" a tune that started to follow him during his early days of campaigning for U.S. president. It was played thousands of time while he was in office. In 1962, Truman was a guest of honor at a private dinner in a hotel. During the evening, he walked down the hall towards the restroom and the leader of an orchestra in the ballroom saw him. Immediately, he had his band strike up \"Missouri Waltz.\" Truman lamented to a friend that had accompanied him, \"It's getting so you can't go to the men's room anymore without them playing the song.\""
todmsg[3330]="The spaceship in the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was 25 feet high and was built on a studio backlot. It had to show no visible openings or hatches, yet had to open at certain times. The film's art directors incorporated an invisible split in its sides that was sealed over with soft plastic and coated with silver paint. Every time the dome of the ship was opened or closed, film crew members had to reseal the split. It was an innovative design for the era."
todmsg[3331]="The French system of canals was built for transportation. The Burgundy Canal connects Paris to the Mediterranean. This was a superb idea in the late 1600s when construction was started. But the canal system wasn't completed until the early 1800s, which unfortunately coincided with the advent of Europe’s new railroads. The railroads put them out of business. These barges used to be pulled by horses and Spanish prisoners. Today they are used mostly by French people on holiday."
todmsg[3332]="When the full-length, poetic name of Bangkok, capital of Thailand, is used, it is usually abbreviated to \"Krung Thep\" (City of Angels). The full-length version is the longest place name of any town or city in the world (167 letters): Krung thep mahanakhon bovorn ratanakosin mahintharayutthaya mahadilok pop noparatratchathani burirom udomratchanivetma hasathan amornpiman avatarnsa thit sakkathattiyavisnukarmprasit."
todmsg[3333]="The term \"resolution\" has so many definitions in photography that most people have difficulty understanding it. It can refer to anything from \"the number of droplets of ink a printer applies\" to \"the number of photosensitive elements in a digital camera's CCD\" to \"the sharpness seen in a photographic print.\""
todmsg[3334]="In a small park at the northeast corner of Sanam Luang in Bangkok, Thailand, stands the crafted figure of Mae Toranee, the earth goddess, wringing the water from her ponytail. Originally part of a fountain built here by Rama V’s queen, Saowaba, to provide Bangkokians with fresh drinking water, the statue illustrates a Buddhist legend featured in the murals of many temples."
todmsg[3335]="The first women only medical college started in 1850, as two dark, rented lecture rooms. Its only teaching aids were one manikin and papier-mache models. Originally called the Female Medical College, it was subsequently renamed the Women’s Medical College, and then the Medical College of Pennsylvania."
todmsg[3336]="The first year that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was open, it carried 3.5 million vehicles. Today, the annual totals average close to 40 million. It cost $35 million to build with the construction bonds being paid off in 1971. The replacement cost is estimated to be about $1.3 billion."
todmsg[3337]="Rainbow Bridge, Nature's abstract sculpture carved of solid sandstone, is the world's largest natural-rock span — 278 feet wide and 309 feet high. Technically, it is located in Utah just north of the Arizona state line, but \"Arizona Highway's Travel Arizona\" book cites it as a local attraction."
todmsg[3338]="Producer Aaron Spelling's famous $40 million, customized 123-room manor, is 31 times the size of the average American home, or roughly the size of a football field. While the colossal home is smaller than the Pentagon, it is larger than the Taj Mahal. Spelling refers to it as his \"Fantasy Island.\""
todmsg[3339]="Not until Herbert Hoover was U.S. president, in 1929, did the U.S. chief executive have a private telephone in his office. (The telephone had been invented 53 years earlier.) The booth in a White House hallway had served as the president's private phone before one was installed in the Oval office."
todmsg[3340]="Despite a tight daily schedule, President Herbert Hoover began each day at the White House with a game of medicine ball at 7:30. The game, much like volleyball with a 6-pound ball tossed over a 10-foot net on a court, was played by Hoover with members of his Cabinet every morning for half an hour."
todmsg[3341]="If you walked the entire length of the China's Great Wall, you would be walking farther than the distance between New York City and Miami, Florida. The wall stretches for over 1,500 miles. The driving distance between New York and Miami is just over 1,250 miles – provided you don't get lost."
todmsg[3342]="In 1990, American tennis pro John McEnroe, often called \"The Brat\" because of his infantile, volatile on-court behavior, became the first player in 27 years to be disqualified from a Grand Slam tournament for misconduct. His repeated bad manners led to his being booted from the Australian Open."
todmsg[3343]="During a 1992 presidential campaign stop, Bill Clinton told supporters that he was going to visit Denver's El Chapultepec Jazz Club to see what it was all about. News traveled fast, and so many people showed up that the future president was forced to stay in his car."
todmsg[3344]="The Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers are the three rivers that joined just outside the doors of Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The old baseball stadium, former home of the Pirates and Steelers, was demolished to the tune of $5.1 million in February 2001."
todmsg[3345]="In bowling alley slang, a \"turkey\" is three strikes in a row. The term dates back to the late 1800s when, around the holidays, bowling alley owners presented live turkeys to the first member of the team to score three consecutive strikes."
todmsg[3346]="Henry McKinney, an advertising agent for N.W. Ayer & Son, coined the word \"sneaker.\" The unique-for-the-time term was significant because the shoe's rubber sole made it quiet when worn. All other shoes, except moccasins, were noisy when their wearers walked."
todmsg[3347]="David Rice Atchison, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, was president for a day. When Zachary Taylor was inaugurated in 1849, he refused to take the oath on a Sunday, so someone had to be sworn into office for one day. Atchison got the job."
todmsg[3348]="The Times Square \"time ball\" for the year 2000 was named the \"Star of Hope.\" It was specially made by Waterford Crystal in Ireland, and contained 504 glass crystals cut into triangles, 600 light bulbs, 96 big lights, and 92 mirrors."
todmsg[3349]="George Washington was the only president to be inaugurated in two cities: New York and Philadelphia. At the time of her husband’s death, Martha Washington burned all letters to maintain her privacy."
todmsg[3350]="In 1990, Monica Seles became the youngest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the twentieth century, winning the French Championship when she was 16 years, 169 days. Seles was also the youngest player to win the Australian Open in 1991."
todmsg[3351]="Public telephones and restrooms are not available at the White House. The nearest ones for tourists to use are in the White House Visitor Center, the Visitor Pavilion on the Ellipse, and the park area south of the White House."
todmsg[3352]="The first toll bridge in America was opened in 1654 at Newbury River in Massachusetts by licensee Richard Thurley. Humans were free to cross the bridge, but there was a charge for animals."
todmsg[3353]="Nevada’s National Automobile Museum's oldest car is an 1892 Philion Road Carriage with a 2-cylinder steam (slide valve) engine. The Road Carriage is one of the oldest, existing American-built automobiles."
todmsg[3354]="In 1998, Gay Head lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard was changed to its original Native American name, Aquinnah. The lighthouse is the largest on the island and guards treacherous shoals offshore, the Devil's Bridge."
todmsg[3355]="There are an estimated 285,000 species of flowering plants on Earth compared to 148,000 for all other plants. Flowering plants are very important because they provide food for herbivores – plant-eating animals – and for humans."
todmsg[3356]="In ancient Greece, a boxing match began with two boxers standing face to face, their noses touching. Greek boxers wore leather thongs embedded with metal studs strapped on their wrists. At one time, metal spikes were added, too."
todmsg[3357]="The Writers Guild of America Registration Office states that approximately 20,000 movie scripts are registered with the Guild each year and that, of these, less than 1 percent are picked up by a studio and made into a film."
todmsg[3358]="There are more people in New York City (7.9 million) than there are in the states of Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Hawaii, Delaware, and New Mexico combined."
todmsg[3359]="In 1769 the British designer Edward Beran enclosed wooden slats in a frame to adjust the amount of light let into a room. These became known as venetian blinds from their early use over Italianate windows."
todmsg[3360]="George W. Bush and Laura Welch were married in Midland, Texas, in 1977, and are the parents of twin girls, Barbara and Jenna. The girls were born in 1981 and are named after their grandmothers."
todmsg[3361]="Franklin Roosevelt’s wife, Anna Eleanor, was known as a champion of civil rights. Roosevelt appointed the first woman to the cabinet—Frances Perkins. She became the Secretary of Labor."
todmsg[3362]="The foundations of the great European cathedrals go down as far as 40 or 50 feet. In some instances, they form a mass of stone as great as that of the visible building above the ground."
todmsg[3363]="The Vatican first went online with its web site in 1996. The site is powered by three host computers named after archangels -- Raphael, Michael and Gabriel."
todmsg[3364]=" George Bush was the first vice president since Van Buren to be elected president. He was also the first vice president since Van Buren to lose re-election."
todmsg[3365]="Walter was one of the most popular names for boys in the United States from 1850 to 1950, but it disappeared suddenly from popular-name lists, and is now considered old-fashioned by new parents."
todmsg[3366]="The term \"bonbon\" means \"good-good.\" It was used by royal French children to describe the candies made by an Italian cook who was imported to France by the Medici queens Catherine and Marie."
todmsg[3367]="During an interview telecast on October 31, 2000, soon-to-be President George W. Bush told talk show host Jay Leno a story about his brother Marvin urinating on the steam iron when he was a kid."
todmsg[3368]="Chester Arthur’s wife, Ellen, died before his presidency. He had a stained glass window, dedicated to his wife, placed in a church so he could see it from the White House."
todmsg[3369]="Creation of the Department of Energy was presided over by President Jimmy Carter. The Panama Canal treaties and the Camp David Accord were also signed during his term."
todmsg[3370]="Cleveland’s wife, Frances Folsom, known for her beauty, was 21 at the time of their marriage; he was 49. Their baby was the first child born in the White House."
todmsg[3371]="The longest English word consisting entirely of consonants (and not including \"y\" as a vowel) is the word \"crwth\" which is from the fourteenth century and means crowd."
todmsg[3372]="The ball used in hurling is also known as a sliotar or sliothar. The ball usually has a cork center and is covered with horsehide. Hurling for women is called camogie."
todmsg[3373]="Tennis champion Serena Williams commented in a 2000 interview that her sister Venus, also a tennis champion, liked to cook soup and pork chops when they were home alone together."
todmsg[3374]="There are 36 million objects in The New York Public Library including: 11.3 million books, a Gutenberg Bible, and a globe form 1519 which was the first globe to show America."
todmsg[3375]="There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel."
todmsg[3376]="In 1931, an industrialist named Robert Ilg built a half-size replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa outside Chicago and lived in it for several years. The tower is still there."
todmsg[3377]="There are over 375 organizations around the world devoted to Sherlock Holmes. The largest group is the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club with over 1,200 members."
todmsg[3378]="In 1951, Jack in the Box opened its first restaurant in San Diego, California, pioneering the drive-thru concept and featuring 18-cent hamburgers."
todmsg[3379]="Tennis champion Helen Wills Moody received no formal training in tennis, but learned to play at the Berkeley Tennis Club in Calfornia when she was a teenager."
todmsg[3380]="The ancient sport of chariot racing gave us the phrase \"turning point.\" Turning points were the places where chariot drivers turned at each end of a stadium."
todmsg[3381]="In Cape Town, South Africa, is the largest rugby museum in the world, which houses a valuable collection of rugby nostalgia and equipment dating back to 1891."
todmsg[3382]="George Washington left America's shores only once to go to Barbados with his ailing half-brother. During his stay there, he was stricken with smallpox."
todmsg[3383]="When sailors speak of sheets (as in \"four sheets to the wind\"), they are not talking about sails. A sheet in nautical terminology is a rope or chain."
todmsg[3384]="The magician's words \"hocus-pocus\" were taken from the name of a mythological sorcerer, Ochus Bochus, who appeared in Norse folktales and legends."
todmsg[3385]="The world's chicken population is more than double the human population, while the world cattle population outnumbers the population of China."
todmsg[3386]="The world's longest escalator is in Ocean Park, Hong Kong, China. With a length of 745 feet, the escalator boasts a vertical rise of 377 feet."
todmsg[3387]="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."
todmsg[3388]="The rare metal gallium melts at 86 degrees Fahrenheit. It is safe to touch; if you hold a piece of it in your hand and wait, it will melt."
todmsg[3389]="The United States will conduct a census in the year 2000. The first U.S. census to be tallied by computer was in 1950. UNIVAC did the tallying."
todmsg[3390]="Hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who have given birth. The cords are reused in vein transplant surgery."
todmsg[3391]="Natural gas has no smell. The odor is artificially added so that people will be able to identify leaks and take measures to stop them."
todmsg[3392]="The term for the most common form of hardening arteries, \"atherosclerosis,\" comes from the Greek words for \"hard porridge.\""
todmsg[3393]="Tennis champion Helen Wills Moody's trademark white sunglasses became a standard uniform for generations of female tennis players."
todmsg[3394]="Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is known for her pursuit of causes she believes in and for her support of her husband."
todmsg[3395]="George Washington never lived in Washington, D.C., although he was interested in the city's construction and bought property there."
todmsg[3396]="The term \"quack,\" comes from a 16th century word, \"quacksalver,\" that meant a peddler who sold fake medicines on the street."
todmsg[3397]="The average amateur fisherman spends about $200 a month on equipment, which adds up to a $40 billion industry."
todmsg[3398]="The average pool cue is 57 inches long."
todmsg[3399]="In April 1922, Willie Kamm was the first minor league baseball player with a contract purchased for more than $100,000."
todmsg[3400]="In golf, a \"Dolly Parton\" is a putt on an especially hilly green. It's also known as a roller coaster."
todmsg[3401]="Herman Hollerith used a computer-like device named \"The Hollerith Tabulator\" to take the U.S. Census in 1890, long before UNIVAC."
todmsg[3402]="Nanotechnology has produced a guitar no bigger than a blood cell. The guitar, 10 micrometers long, has six strummable strings."
todmsg[3403]="There are about 19 million people living on Australia. Eighty percent of the population lives in the cities along the coast."
todmsg[3404]="Rancho del Cielo was the name of Pres. Ronald Reagan's presidential estate. It translates roughly to \"farm of the sky.\""
todmsg[3405]="Nearly 60 percent of women say they receive at least eleven e-mails a day, whereas only 49 percent of men say they do."
todmsg[3406]="In hockey, a \"butterfly\" is a goaltending style in which the goalie keeps his knees together and feet slightly apart."
todmsg[3407]="A 1994 study found that only 20 percent of California hospitals require nursing aides to have high school diplomas."
todmsg[3408]="The first roller-skating rink, Belgravia Skating Rink, was opened to the public in Great Britain on August 2, 1875."
todmsg[3409]="The United States uses one-fifth of the cement manufactured in the world, an average of about 70 million tons per year."
todmsg[3410]="George Washington seldom slept more than three or four consecutive hours in any day during the Revolutionary War."
todmsg[3411]="George Washington was the first U.S. president to appear on a postage stamp."
todmsg[3412]="In golf, a \"snowman\" is a score of 8 for a hole or 88 for a round."
todmsg[3413]="There are 170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play the ten opening moves in a game of chess."
todmsg[3414]="There are 364 gifts named in \"The Twelve Days of Christmas\" song."
todmsg[3415]="There are 6,272,640 square inches in an acre.<br><br>There are 63,360 inches in a mile."
todmsg[3416]="There are a thousand times more living things in the sea than there are on land."
todmsg[3417]="There are more telephones than people in Washington, D.C."
todmsg[3418]="There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan."
todmsg[3419]="There are more than 10,000 golf courses in the United States."
todmsg[3420]="There are more than 200 different types of Barbie® dolls."
todmsg[3421]="There are more than 30,000 diets on public record."
todmsg[3422]="A basketball ring’s inner diameter is 18 inches."
todmsg[3423]="A Boeing 747 jumbo jet weighs 55 times the weight of an average African elephant."
todmsg[3424]="A bolt of lightning travels at speeds of up to 100 million feet per second, or 72 million miles per hour."
todmsg[3425]="Hawaii has the only royal palace in the United States – Iolani."
todmsg[3426]="Hershey, Pennsylvania has a zoo, an amusement park, and the world’s biggest chocolate factory."
todmsg[3427]="In 1975, a birdhouse costing $10,000 was built in Quebec by the city fathers."
todmsg[3428]="President John Tyler's estate was called Sherwood Forest."
todmsg[3429]="The first skyscraper in the United States was built in Chicago."
todmsg[3430]="The first umbrella factory in the United States was founded in 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland."
todmsg[3431]="Reportedly, the widest roadway in the world is Brazil’s Monumental Axis, which is a six-lane boulevard."
todmsg[3432]="Household batteries can leak mercury, which can cause mental retardation, and cadmium, which is a carcinogen."
todmsg[3433]="Franklin Pierce was the first United States’ president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree ."
todmsg[3434]="John F. Kennedy and Warren Harding were the only United States presidents to be survived by their fathers."
todmsg[3435]="What is called a \"French kiss\" in England and America is known as an \"English kiss\" in France."
todmsg[3436]="When truckers in the U.S. talk about \"green stamps,\" they are discussing speeding tickets."
todmsg[3437]="Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. He was one of three mayors to become president.<br><br>Calvin Coolidge was the only U.S. President to be born on the Fourth of July (1872)."
todmsg[3438]="Residential buildings use about 35 percent of all available electricity."
todmsg[3439]="Gold salts are sometimes injected into the muscles to relieve arthritis."
todmsg[3440]="Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures."
todmsg[3441]="Horn & Hardart opened the first U.S. automat in Philadelphia in 1902."
todmsg[3442]="The Studebaker auto company produced a car called the \"Dictator\" from 1927–1936."
todmsg[3443]="Of all colors, gray lenses in sunglasses best protect the eyes against the Sun’s rays."
todmsg[3444]="George Bush was president during communism’s \"fall.\""
todmsg[3445]="George Washington had two ice cream freezers installed at his home in Mount Vernon."
todmsg[3446]="John F. Kennedy received the Pulitzer Prize for his book, Profiles in Courage."
todmsg[3447]="The little-used word \"cully\" means to cheat, trick, or impose upon."
todmsg[3448]="The longest alphabet is Cambodian. It has 74 letters compared with the 26 in English."
todmsg[3449]="Vitreous humor is the jellylike substance that keeps the eye inflated."
todmsg[3450]="Welsh in origin, the male name Arthur means \"brave.\""
todmsg[3451]="The term \"classroom\" didn’t come into use in the United States until after 1865."
todmsg[3452]="The term \"hung jury,\" a jury that cannot agree on a verdict, was coined in the 1840s."
todmsg[3453]="The male name Andrew is from the Greek word for \"manly.\""
todmsg[3454]="The male name Dylan is Welsh in origin, and translates to \"from the sea.\" "
todmsg[3455]="The male name Gregory is from the Greek word meaning \"watchman.\""
todmsg[3456]="The U.S. Coast Guard motto, semper paratus, means \"always prepared.\""
todmsg[3457]="The male name Mark is from the Latin word for \"hammer.\""
todmsg[3458]="Wile E. Coyote has only caught the Road Runner once, on May 21, 1980."
todmsg[3459]="In Germany, the fairy tale-like castle of Neuschwanstein is one of the most famous castles in all the world. Each year, more than a million tourists visit the castle. It was built by King Ludwig II, believed to have been mentally ill, more than a century ago. His magnificent Neuschwanstein Castle is likely Germany's most famous sight. From a distance, the castle, sitting on a rocky peak of the Alps in Bavaria, is like a storybook picture. Walt Disney got many of his ideas for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland from Neuschwanstein Castle. Its full name, Schloss Neuschwanstein, translates to \"Castle of New Swan Stone.\""
todmsg[3460]="Mount Carmel is one of Chicago's finest graveyards, and is the oldest Catholic cemetery in the western part of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The vast majority of persons buried here are Italian. There are more than 400 private Italian family mausoleums in Mount Carmel, more than any other cemetery in the area. The most popular attraction is the Bishops' mausoleum, which received over 50,000 visitors in the two months following the death of Cardinal Bernardin in October 1996.But to many, Mount Carmel is equally famous for the graves of Chicago’s notorious gangsters of the 1920s – including the infamous Al Capone."
todmsg[3461]="In Central French Riviera is the ancient chapel of Notre Dame du Bon Port, founded in the fifth century by the monks of Lèrins. It was built on the site of a pagan sanctuary dedicated to the moon goddess Selena. An unusual aspect of this chapel is that it has two naves: one was built in the thirteenth century and the other 100 years later. In the chapel, there is a cross brought back from the Siege of Sebastopol and two gilded statues portraying \"Our Lady who Guards\" and \"Our Lady of Safe Return.\" This latter is honored every July by the sailors of Antibes."
todmsg[3462]="The golden mosaic ceiling inside the main entrance of the Royal Ontario Museum is one of the museum's most magnificent features. The ceiling is made from cut squares of imported Venetian glass. Its sparkling gold, rust, and bronze background is inset with red, blue, and turquoise patterns, similar to the colorful mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe. Worked out on the golden field are geometrical borders and panels. These frame decorative floral designs and sixteen pictorial images symbolizing different historical cultures."
todmsg[3463]="The Japanese adore beef, but cannot get enough because the country is too small for large-scale cattle raising. An exception are the cows of Kobe, who live the good life: they drink beer, are massaged three times a day to keep their meat tender, and are sung to, making them feel serene. Kobe beef is world-famous for its flavor, although chances of finding any outside Japan are almost nil. A few restaurants in the United States import the rare commodity, charging more than one hundred dollars for a 16-ounce, one-inch-thick steak."
todmsg[3464]="The first practical can opener was developed many years after the birth of the metal can. Canned food was invented for the British Navy in 1813. Early cans were made of iron and weighed more than the food they held. Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut patented the first can opener in 1858. This first type of can opener never left the grocery store. A clerk had to open each can before it was taken away. William Lyman of the United States invented the modern can opener, with a cutting wheel that rolls around the rim, in 1870"
todmsg[3465]="On December 2, 1942, a nuclear chain reaction was achieved for the first time under the stands of the University of Chicago’s football stadium. The first reactor measured 30 feet wide, 32 feet long, and 21.5 feet high. It weighed 1,400 tons and contained 52 tons of uranium in the form of uranium metal and uranium oxide. Although the same process led to the massive energy release of the atomic bomb, the first artificially sustained nuclear reaction produced just enough energy to light a small flashlight."
todmsg[3466]="The gardening staff at San Diego Sea World’s botanical gardens averages 65 people who tend the approximate 4,500 plant species. Among the themed garden spots in SeaWorld is a small Japanese garden which offers visitors a serene respite. The garden features a sunken garden and a waterfall area designed by Tadashi Kubo, a professor of Landscape Architecture in Tokyo. Most of the building materials, rocks, stone bridge, and lanterns were imported from Japan. The building is a two-thirds replica of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto."
todmsg[3467]="In January 1986, it was revealed that the U.S. government's first effort to rid itself of a surplus of sugar cost taxpayers about $36 million. Approximately 122,000 tons of sugar were sold a month earlier to Shepherd Oil Company of Louisiana for $7.4 million, to be converted into ethanol to blend with gasoline. The sugar had cost the U.S. Agriculture Department $43.2 million. It was estimated that, at those rates, the losses accrued to unload the sugar could exceed $100 million."
todmsg[3468]="Most of the 76-square-mile Catalina Island is a park, forever barred from development. In 1975, the Wrigley family transferred 85 percent of the island to the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to preserving and protecting the open spaces, wild lands and nature preserves. That means that what's wild in Catalina today will remain wild. Avalon, the main settlement, has little room for expansion, so what's currently built is what will remain built."
todmsg[3469]="In early Europe, there was a popular superstition that the wearer of turquoise could never suffer a broken bone. Instead, the turquoise itself would shatter and thus prevent the accident. The stones were also set into horses' bridles to keep them from stumbling and falling. These days, it is common for horses' bridles to be decorated with turquoise (usually imitation), although not many people who own them know the custom's origin."
todmsg[3470]="On her late father, Nat \"King\" Cole, Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole recalled in an interview: \"There was quite a bit of racism going on because we were the only black family for miles. Before I was born, one of the women there approached my father and told him, \"Well, you know, we don't want any undesirables in this neighborhood.\" And my father just looked at her and said, \"Well, if I see any, I'll let you know.\""
todmsg[3471]="The beautiful Pine Valley Golf Club in Clementon, New Jersey, was deemed the Number 1 golf course in the world by Golf Digest in 2000. The course was built in 1918, offers a par 70, and measures 6,765 yards. Pine Valley Golf Club has achieved designation as a \"Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary\" by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System, the educational division of Audubon International, endorsed by the United States Golf Association."
todmsg[3472]="In June 1946, NBC-TV and Gillette staged what they billed as the first \"television sports extravaganza\": the Joe Louis-Billy Conn heavyweight fight at Yankee Stadium. The fight was a huge viewing success with an estimated audience of 150,000 watching on just 5,000 sets. For every TV set tuned into the fight, there were an average of 30 people watching. Many were seeing an event on television for the first time."
todmsg[3473]="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 13, 14, or 15 years old; 36 percent between the ages of 16 and 21. The most memorable kiss in a motion picture was in Gone With The Wind, according to 25 percent of those polled."
todmsg[3474]="The world's first underground railway, between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street – with trains hauled by steam engines – was opened by the Metropolitan Railway on January 10, 1863. The initial section was 6 km (nearly 4 miles) in length, and provided both a new commuter rail service and an onward rail link for passengers arriving at Paddington, Euston and King's Cross main line stations to the city of London."
todmsg[3475]="John Hanson — not George Washington — was the first president of the U.S. When the Congress met in 1781, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation, which were adopted in 1777 and ratified by the states in 1781. At that meeting, Congress elected John Hanson its \"President of the U.S. in Congress assembled.\" George Washington became the first president of the U.S. under the U.S. Constitution in 1789."
todmsg[3476]="The first film audiences in Hong Kong had to be paid to watch movies. The Chinese people were frightened of the potential evil power of the \"moving spirits\" on the screen in the first film shown in Hong Kong and refused to enter the theater. In the early days of silent movies, the British theater owner hired audiences by the day for three weeks, paying them for their attendance until their fears and superstitions were dispelled. The tactic paid off."
todmsg[3477]="Marjorie Stewart Joyner became the first female African American patent holder when she patented her invention for setting hair in 1926. Distressed over how damaged the kinky hair of black women would often turn out after a visit to the hairdresser, and with a background in African American beauty culture, Joyner invented a permanent wave machine that allowed a hairdo to stay set for days."
todmsg[3478]="On his childhood with ten children in the family, comedian/director Keenan Ivory Wayans recalled his childhood in an interview: \"Our house was always loud. There was nothing sacred. Everything was a joke. If you got a whippin', when you got back to the table, you heard nine other people doing impressions of your screaming. Everything was funny to us.\""
todmsg[3479]="In Bangkok, Thailand in 1996, police searched the men's room of Thailand's Parliament after an anonymous bomb threat was phoned in. They got a surprise. They found a box they feared contained a bomb, but discovered the contents were an abandoned monitor lizard. \"Monitor lizard fails to explode in MPs' toilet,\" the Bangkok Post reported in its front-page headline."
todmsg[3480]="Many children occasionally walk in their sleep. Sleepwalking is ordinarily a phase in the growing-up process. Because parts of the child's brain are immature, dreams can be stimulating enough to cause a youngster to take a nocturnal stroll. About 25 percent of all children have one or more sleepwalking episodes between the ages of 7 and 12, according to sleep researchers."
todmsg[3481]="The first footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater (now Mann's Chinese Theater), were made by Norma Talmadge in 1927. Legend has it that she accidentally stepped in wet concrete outside the building. Since then, more than 180 stars have been immortalized, along with their hands and feet and even noses (Jimmy Durante)."
todmsg[3482]="In early Europe, minstrels and jesters were known to inflate the entrails of recently butchered animals and \"entertain\" their audiences. The bladders, intestines, and sometimes the stomach, despite their thinness, were strong enough that they could be manipulated into diverting shapes, much like balloon sculpting today."
todmsg[3483]="In early America, simple wooden beds and straw mattresses were the rule in all but the wealthiest of homes. American inns during the Revolutionary War era were not lush or comfortable, and an innkeeper would think nothing of requesting that a guest share his bed with a stranger when accommodations became scarce."
todmsg[3484]="It is a common myth that chocolate aggravates acne. Experiments conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Naval Academy found that consumption of chocolate – even frequent daily dietary intake – had no effect on the incidence of acne. Professional dermatologists no longer link acne with diet."
todmsg[3485]="In North America, the diamondback moth is now recorded everywhere that cabbage and its relatives are grown. Diamondback moths attack only vegetable plants in the family Cruciferae, which includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, collard, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radish, turnip, and watercress."
todmsg[3486]="Ants keep slaves. Certain species, the so-called sanguinary ants for example, raid the nests of other ant tribes, kill the queen, and kidnap many of the workers. The workers are brought back to the captors' hive, where they are coerced into performing menial tasks."
todmsg[3487]="In Muddy, Illinois, the post office measures only 7½ by 10½ feet, about the size of a garden shed. If it wasn't for a sign hanging above the door stating, \"U.S. Post Office, Muddy, IL., 62965,\" finding the tiny, wooden building could be difficult. It is believed to be one of the smallest post offices in the United States."
todmsg[3488]="If you bought one of the first clunky calculators way back in the 1970s — and still have it — you may be in luck. Collectors are beginning to show interest in those oversized dinosaurs. It is anticipated that the first Game Boys — put out by Nintendo in 1990 — will likely be collectors' items in just a few years."
todmsg[3489]="Shrimp swim backwards."
todmsg[3490]="Mallard nests are sometimes built at a height of 40 feet above ground. Surprisingly, when leaving their nests for the first time, chicks are very rarely hurt after falling to the ground."
todmsg[3491]="Many corals receive nourishment from algae which grow inside their tissue. "
todmsg[3492]="Many large whales have a blowhole crest, an elevated area in front of their blowholes, which prevents water from pouring in while they're breathing."
todmsg[3493]="The dodo, extinct less than 100 years after being discovered by the Dutch in 1598, was not a prolific species. The female laid just one egg a year."
todmsg[3494]="The dog and the turkey were the only two domesticated animals in ancient Mexico."
todmsg[3495]="The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. Wild cats hold their tail horizontally, or tucked between their legs while walking."
todmsg[3496]="Sidewinders are snakes that move by looping their bodies up in the air and pushing against the ground when they land. Their tracks in the ground would look like a series of straight lines angling in the direction the snake was traveling."
todmsg[3497]="The duckbill platypus of Australia can store up to 600 worms in its large cheek pouches. "
todmsg[3498]="Significantly more bird species than mammal species pair for life, and both bird parents usually take an active part in the rearing of the young."
todmsg[3499]="The ears of the Asiatic black bears are larger than those of other bear species."
todmsg[3500]="Since housecats are clean and their coats are dry and glossy, their fur easily becomes charged with electricity. Sparks can be seen if their fur is rubbed in the dark."
todmsg[3501]="Many seabirds that swallow fishes too large for immediate digestion go about with the esophagus filled. Apparently without discomfort, the tail of the fish sticks out of the bird's mouth."
todmsg[3502]="The eggs of the marsupial frog are laid in a brood pouch on the mother's back, and the young hatch out in a zipper-like fashion from the pouch."
todmsg[3503]="Since white tigers have pigmented stripes and blue eyes, they are not albinos."
todmsg[3504]="Many sharks lay soft-shelled eggs but hammerheads give birth to live young that look like miniature versions of their parents. Young hammerheads are often born headfirst, with the tip of their hammerhead folded backward to make them more streamlined for the birthing process."
todmsg[3505]="The Egyptian vulture, a white bird about the size of a raven, throws stones with its beak to open ostrich eggs to eat. This bird is one of the very few animals that, like man, manipulates objects as tools."
todmsg[3506]="Sir Walter Raleigh's black greyhound was named Hamlet."
todmsg[3507]="Many snail species can live up to ten years."
todmsg[3508]="The electric eel has thousands of electric cells running up and down its tail. Vital body organs, such as the heart, are packed into a small space behind the head. They use their electric sense to \"see.\" Their electric sensors act like radar. They send out weak impulses which bounce off objects.<br><br>The electric eel is the most shocking animal on Earth — no other animal packs such a big charge. If attacking a large prey, a 9-foot-long eel can discharge about 800 volts. One zap could stun a human. The larger the eel, the bigger the charge."
todmsg[3509]="Skunks have more than smell to protect themselves. They can withstand five times the snake venom that would kill a rabbit."
todmsg[3510]="Many types of fish called mouthbrooders carry their eggs in their mouths until the babies hatch and can care for themselves."
todmsg[3511]="Snails have teeth. They are arranged in rows along the snail's tongue and are used like a file to saw or slice through the snail's foot."
todmsg[3512]="The couplet \"She kissed the hairbrush by mistake  She thought it was her husband, Jake\" originated in a 1940 Burma Shave roadside jingle."
todmsg[3513]="The cover of the very first issue of Rolling Stone magazine featured John Lennon."
todmsg[3514]="The curtain in kabuki theaters consists of red-brown, black, and green cotton stripes. It is not raised as in the Western theaters, but drawn aside."
todmsg[3515]="The dapper Michigan J. Frog was created by master cartoonist Chuck Jones in the 1950s for a Warner Bros.' cartoon, and is now the mascot of the WB television network."
todmsg[3516]="The Don McLean song \"American Pie\" is NOT named after the airplane Buddy Holly died in. This is incorrectly reported in many trivia web sites."
todmsg[3517]="The DVD version of the animated hit \"A Bug's Life\" was the first-ever all-digital video transfer."
todmsg[3518]="The F.C.C. fined The Howard Stern Show’s owner, Infinity Broadcasting, $600,000 in 1992 after listeners provided transcripts that had the controversial Stern talking about masturbating to a picture of Aunt Jemima and having violent sex with Michelle Pfeiffer."
todmsg[3519]="The Family of Man exhibition started in 1955, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and traveled to seven countries over the next seven years. The book based on the exhibition remains the best-selling photography book to this day."
todmsg[3520]="The film crews for Armageddon (1998) got unprecedented access to NASA facilities and filmed actual launch sequences of the space shuttle. Fifteen cameras were specially outfitted to withstand the hydrochloric exhaust left in the shuttle's wake. "
todmsg[3521]="The first \"downtown\" musical to win both a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize, Rent, opened in 1996."
todmsg[3522]="The first American pop group to tour the USSR was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band during their 1977 concert tour. "
todmsg[3523]="The first career-girl comic strip was Winnie Winkle, debuting in 1920."
todmsg[3524]="The first CD pressed in the United State for commercial release was Bruce Springsteen's \"Born in the USA.\""
todmsg[3525]="The first commercial radio station in the United States, KDKA in Pittsburgh, began broadcasting in November 1920."
todmsg[3526]="The first far eastern country to permit kissing in films was China. The first oriental screen kiss was bestowed on actress Mamie Lee in the movie Two Women in the House (China, 1926). "
todmsg[3527]="The first guest host of NBC's Saturday Night Live was comedian George Carlin on October 10, 1975."
todmsg[3528]="The first motion picture copyrighted in the United States (in 1894) showed a man in the act of sneezing. "
todmsg[3529]="The first musical to feature murder as an essential ingredient of the plot was Rose-Marie in 1924, in which a fur trapper was falsely accused of a killing. "
todmsg[3530]="The first person ever awarded a gold record was Glenn Miller for \"Chattanooga Choo-Choo.\""
todmsg[3531]="The first play ever performed in North America, took place on a boat at Port Royal, Nova Scotia. The production, staged on November 16, 1606, was called Le Th'atre de Neptune en la Nouvelle-France."
todmsg[3532]="The first play written by an African American to win a Drama Critics Circle Award was A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The play opened on January 26, 1959 at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia."
todmsg[3533]="From 1944 to 1947, James Mason was the top box-office draw in Britain."
todmsg[3534]="Mattresses are potential fire hazards, and a recent nationwide survey by the Sleep Products Safety Council found that millions of Americans are storing them. People often expect to use a mattress again or to pass it to a relative or friend. But if not being used, a mattress should be discarded."
todmsg[3535]="The fragrant patchouli is a member of the mint family."
todmsg[3536]="McDonald's Corporation eliminated one million pounds of waste per year in the 1980s by making their drinking straws 20 percent lighter."
todmsg[3537]="The Fresh Kills Landfill site on Staten Island, New York, opened in 1948, is the world's largest. It covers 3,000 acres and receives up to 14,000 tons of garbage a day. It is scheduled to reach capacity, and may close, by the year 2002."
todmsg[3538]=" Melting ice absorbs almost as much energy in changing to liquid water as is needed to heat the water from freezing to boiling."
todmsg[3539]="Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the only temperature for which the readings on both scales are equal."
todmsg[3540]="Moist air holds heat better than dry, which is why nights in the desert are cool while nights in the humid tropics are torrid."
todmsg[3541]="The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park, California, is the largest tree in the world. It weighs more than 6,000 tons."
todmsg[3542]="The giant kelps that create underwater forests in the ocean belong to the large group of plants called algae."
todmsg[3543]="The Great Lakes are great indeed! This landlocked quintet holds 18 percent of the world's supply of fresh water."
todmsg[3544]="More than 25 percent of the world's forests are in Siberia."
todmsg[3545]="The Great Lakes are the most important inland waterway in North America. All the lakes, except Lake Michigan, which lies entirely in the United States, are shared by the United States and Canada and form part of the border between these countries."
todmsg[3546]="More than 5 percent of the land on Earth is burned by fire every year."
todmsg[3547]="The Great Lakes contain 6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water, one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water. The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world.<br><br>More than 6,000 wrecked ships lay at the bottom of the Great Lakes. One of the better known is The Edmund Fitzgerald. The ship sank on November 10, 1975 during a severe storm on Lake Superior.<br><br>The Great Lakes have a combined area of 94,230 square miles — larger than the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont combined."
todmsg[3548]="More than 71 million gallons of water pass over Victoria Falls in Africa every minute."
todmsg[3549]="The greatest snowfall in the world belongs to Mount Rainer in Washington, for the 1971-1972 season. During that time it accumulated 1,224 inches of snow."
todmsg[3550]="More than 75 million people are estimated to have been killed by earthquakes in the history of our planet."
todmsg[3551]="The Gulf Stream travels 111 miles across the Atlantic Ocean each day."
todmsg[3552]="Morning glory seeds are poisonous, and can be fatal if eaten in large amounts."
todmsg[3553]="The guppy gets its name from the man who discovered it and presented specimens to the British Museum, naturalist R. J. L. Guppy of Trinidad."
todmsg[3554]="Most dangerous of all avalanches, snow avalanches occur about a million times a year."
todmsg[3555]="The heaviest hailstones on record, weighing 2¼ pounds, are reported to have killed 92 people in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986."
todmsg[3556]="The Indians of the eastern United States had a particular liking for meats served with fruit sauces. The ripening of cranberries and the Thanksgiving holiday coincide, which is one reason why cranberry relish is traditionally served with roast turkey."
todmsg[3557]="Proper dining etiquette in Japan demands that one not use their chopsticks to skewer food, move dishes around, and never dish out food to another person using the same ends from which food was eaten."
todmsg[3558]="Prune dumplings and noodles with poppy seed is a favorite dish in Poland, as is beet soup."
todmsg[3559]="Pumpernickel bread is thought to be named for the German words meaning \"devil fart.\" In German, \"pumpern-\" means \"to fart,\" and \"-Nickel\" means \"devil, demon or goblin.\" Supposedly the bread causes gas as powerful as that which the Devil experiences."
todmsg[3560]="While orange-colored carrots predominate the world market now, there was a time in ancient western Europe and China that the root vegetable was plentiful in purple and yellow. Red carrots are grown today in a number of countries, including Japan, Turkey, India, and China."
todmsg[3561]="While the Europeans discovered the soybean plant in the early eighteenth century, the Chinese relied on it as a food source 5,000 years ago. The reigning Chinese emperor called it \"Ta Teou,\" which translates to \"big bean.\""
todmsg[3562]="While there are hundreds of species of sharks, only about seven are marketed and eaten with any regularity in the United States. Europe has its own favorite species — most of which never make it to U.S. kitchens."
todmsg[3563]="The Italian name for the tomato is pomodoro, which translates to \"apple of love\" or \"golden apple,\" because the first tomatoes to reach Europe were yellow varieties."
todmsg[3564]="White chocolate does not contain caffeine."
todmsg[3565]="The Jack in the Box company introduced a series of fast-food \"firsts,\" including being the first chain to open a drive-thru restaurant. It was the first to offer the first chicken sandwich in the western United States and the industry's first breakfast sandwich and portable salad."
todmsg[3566]="White mustard seeds are used to make yellow mustard; the color comes from turmeric. Spicy mustards are concocted from brown mustard seeds."
todmsg[3567]="Pumpkin flowers are edible."
todmsg[3568]="Whole, unopened coconuts can be stored at room temperature for up to six months, depending on the age of the nut."
todmsg[3569]="The Japanese word for chef, itamae, literally means \"in front of the cutting board.\""
todmsg[3570]="Pumpkin seeds were used as a traditional diuretic and as a cure for tapeworms and roundworms by American Indian medicine men."
todmsg[3571]="The Jell-O company came out with a cola-flavored gelatin for kids in 1942. It was discontinued the following year."
todmsg[3572]="Pumpkins and cucumbers are related to each other."
todmsg[3573]="The Jerusalem artichoke is neither from Jerusalem nor is an artichoke. It's the knobby nut-brown tuber of a sunflower."
todmsg[3574]="Pumpkins are one of the oldest crops to be cultivated, pumpkin seeds have been found in crocks that are more than 12,000 years old. They were one of the most common crops until the 1900s, when by the 1940s they were relegated to pies alone."
todmsg[3575]="The kiwi was originally called the Chinese gooseberry."
todmsg[3576]="Florida averages the greatest number of shark attacks annually – an average of 13."
todmsg[3577]="Florida is not the southernmost state in the United States. Hawaii is farther south."
todmsg[3578]="Florida’s Everglades are about 4,000 miles of freshwater marsh, rivers, and swamp. It is home to 850 species of animals and 900 types of plants."
todmsg[3579]="Forests cover around 60 percent of Pennsylvania. Its name means \"Penn’s Woods\" after its founder, William Penn."
todmsg[3580]="Four states have active volcanoes: Washington, California, Alaska, and Hawaii, whose Mauna Loa is the world's largest active volcano. Hawaii itself was formed by the activity of undersea volcanoes."
todmsg[3581]="Montpelier, Vermont, is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonald's."
todmsg[3582]="Mount McKinley, in Alaska, is known to the natives as Denali or \"the high one.\" It is the tallest mountain on the continent with a height of 20,320 feet about sea level. Alaska is also home to the next 15 tallest mountains."
todmsg[3583]="Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has the most mini-golf courses per area in the United States. At last count, there were 47 in a 60-mile radius."
todmsg[3584]="Nature’s totem, the awe-inspiring, 325-foot spire of Chimney Rock in Nebraska, informed Pony Express riders and frontiersmen they had crossed the American plains and that mountains lay ahead."
todmsg[3585]="From the 1830s to 1960s, the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania, was owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., making it the only privately owned river in the United States."
todmsg[3586]="Glaciers store about 75 percent of the world's freshwater. In Washington state alone, glaciers provide 470 billion gallons of water each summer."
todmsg[3587]="Grasshopper Glacier in Montana was named for the grasshoppers that can still be seen frozen in the ice."
todmsg[3588]="Hawaii has 150 recognized ecosystems."
todmsg[3589]="Hawaii’s \"Forbidden Island\" of Niihau is owned by a single family named Robinson. On Niihau, there are no phones and no electricity for the population of 250 full-blooded Hawaiians living there."
todmsg[3590]="Where did the saying \"He knows the ropes\" come from? Years ago in the times of Pirates and Pirate ships, they always had one man in charge of  the sails.  Because he knew exactly what to do and what rope did what, they would say \"he knows the ropes\" let him do it. Hence is were the saying started."
todmsg[3591]="It is impossible to lick your elbow."
todmsg[3592]="Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair."
todmsg[3593]="Coca-Cola was originally green."
todmsg[3594]="23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts."
todmsg[3595]="In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere."
todmsg[3596]="If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contactwith extraterrestrials or their vehicles?"
todmsg[3597]="Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. "
todmsg[3598]="More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call. "
todmsg[3599]="The \"sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick\" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language. "
todmsg[3600]="The Eiffel Tower in Paris weighs over 1000 elephants. "
todmsg[3601]="There are actually two types of humans? The slightly larger and less intelligent kind, males, have protruding external genitalia called \"penises\" that are used for making important life decisions. Meanwhile, females have these nifty things called \"vaginas\" that no one understands yet, especially males"
todmsg[3602]="In 1879, a mail service in Belgium employed 37 cats to carry bundles of letters to villages around the town of Liege, this experiment was shorted-lived as the cats proved thoroughly undisciplined. Just plain weird...even by my standards."
todmsg[3603]="The greatest recorded number of children that have been born by one mother is 69! The poor lass gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and a measly 4 sets of quadruplets. Even in the days before IVF!"
todmsg[3604]="Males, on average, think about sex every 7 seconds."
todmsg[3605]="Every 5 seconds a computer gets infected with a virus"
todmsg[3606]="13% of Americans actually believe that some parts of the moon are made of cheese...yummy"
todmsg[3607]="The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910."
todmsg[3608]="If you could count the number of times a cricket chirps in one minute, divide by 2, add 9 and divide by 2 again, you would have the correct temperature in celcius degrees... How do they know that?"
todmsg[3609]="Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don't have eyes. Eeewwwwww "
todmsg[3610]="Hydrogen is an explosive gas. Oxygen supports combustion. Yet when these are combined it is water which is used to put out fires."
todmsg[3611]="Walt Disney's autograph bears no resemblance to the famous Disney logo he was also impotent. Bwahahahahahaha!"
todmsg[3612]="The Dutch town of Leeuwarden can be spelled 225 different ways- "
todmsg[3613]="Grapes explode when you put them in the microwave. Go on, try it then"
todmsg[3614]="The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children. "
todmsg[3615]="Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors."
todmsg[3616]="Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David Hearts - Charlemagne Clubs - Alexander the Great Diamonds - Julius Caesar"
todmsg[3617]="In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak."
todmsg[3618]="If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds recieved in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes."
todmsg[3619]="Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite."
todmsg[3620]="The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it."
todmsg[3621]="101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die during the movie. "
todmsg[3622]="To \"testify\" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles."
todmsg[3623]="Did you know?...You're most likely to win the National Lottery (UK) if you buy your ticket on a saturday rather than a wednesday. Because you are more likey to die before the number draw than win."
todmsg[3624]="In York, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow (except on Sundays)"
todmsg[3625]="On average, 90% Dutch teenagers can speak fluent English whereas only 80% American teenagers can speak fluent English. (Just incase you didnt know, English is not the first langauge of The Netherlands.)"
todmsg[3626]="In Texas, a recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed. Only in Texas...."
todmsg[3627]="No piece of square dry paper can be folded in half more than 7 times"
todmsg[3628]="The people who make school kitchens, also make electric chairs."
todmsg[3629]="The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night."
todmsg[3630]="\"Stewardesses\" is the longest word typed with only the left hand."
todmsg[3631]="The sentence \"the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog\" uses every letter in the English language."
todmsg[3632]="1 in every 200 people are a psychopath and they look just like everyone else......"
todmsg[3633]="An average human loses about 200 head hairs per day."
todmsg[3634]="All the chemicals in the human body have a combined value of approximately £4.00 (6.25 Euro) "
todmsg[3635]="In Alaska, it is legal to shoot bears. However, waking a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a photograph is prohibited."
todmsg[3636]="You are most likely to be murdered or raped by a family member or a close friend (98% of all murders). Whereas being murdered by a derranged lunatic down a dark alley is very rare."
todmsg[3637]="Bill \"Four eyes\" Gates has enough money to buy every house in Alaska, greedy bastard!"
todmsg[3638]="Mexico City sinks about 10 inches a year"
todmsg[3639]="It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open? Next time you feel a sneeze coming try it!"
todmsg[3640]="The expression \"to get fired\" comes from long, long ago. When clans wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down. "
todmsg[3641]="The word \"corr\" actually means \"odd\" in Irish."
todmsg[3642]="Los Angeles' full name is \"El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula\". In English this means \"The City of Angels\""
todmsg[3643]="The human body is composed of about 36 liters or eight gallons of water."
todmsg[3644]="Ocean waves have been known to toss rocks weighing more than 100 tons."
todmsg[3645]="Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don't have eyes."
todmsg[3646]="Dogs pant to regulate their body heat,but they also have sweat glands in their feet."
todmsg[3647]="Taking a bath requires 40 percent more water than the average shower Unless you sing and have to finish your song. "
todmsg[3648]="Grasshoppers hear through their knees."
todmsg[3649]="Some snakes hear through their tongues."
todmsg[3650]="Fish don't have ears,yet they hear or feel vibrations along the lateral line of their bodies. "
todmsg[3651]="If you could count the number of times a cricket chirps in one minute, divide by 2,add 9 and divide by 2 again, you w