So, if you thought the word sweatshop referred to a business where people actually sweated a lot, would you be right’ Maybe, depends on how you look at it. Actually the word originated in England in the early 1800’s and meant getting work out of people for very low wages. It was used here in America to describe the working conditions in the garment industry in New York.

Speaking of England, who was the first member of British royalty to ever visit the United States’ It wasn’t until June of 1939 when George VI and his family (including the present Queen Elizabeth) came to visit the Worlds Fair in New York City. Probably took them that long to get over their loss in 1781 at Yorktown.

You knew that India has a bill of rights for cows.

So, Vincent Van Gogh…the artist.. actually sold only one painting in his lifetime. It was called ‘The Red Vineyard’. Bought for 400 francs by a lady from Belgium. It’s now in a museum in Moscow.

What’s so different about penguins’ Well, for one they are the only bird that can swim but can’t fly. For another, they are the only bird that walks upright.

Things you always wanted to know but were too lazy to find out yourself…a US quarter has 119 grooves on its edge.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was the first novel written on a typewriter. Mark Twain wrote it in 1875. He kept it a secret in fear of having to answer questions or write testimonials for it. Wonder who wrote the first one on a computer’

You knew that Hawaii was our southernmost state didn’t you some folks think its Florida.

Our sun gives off enough energy each day to equal more than 550 billion tons of coal. We’d have to extract coal for a 1,000 years to equal one day’s output.

I’d always heard that King John signed the Magna Charta in 1215. He didn’t. He couldn’t write. Used his seal to grant the thing.

When baseball was first invented, the winning team had to score 21 runs.

In Clarendon, Texas it’s illegal to dust a public building with a feather duster. Why’

In a book called “The Correct Thing in Good Society” published in 1902, it was noted that “It is not the correct thing to say, in case of a slight squall at sea, ‘Captain is there any hope left ”

It would be all right to use the word ..”Shoulderclapper” to describe

someone who affects familiarity with you.

Old timers report that they often used pure granular sugar on wounds. It was said to promote clotting and discourage bacteria growth.

In 1899, distress calls were sent out after a collision at sea between two British ships. What made this special was the fact that radio, or wireless, had just been invented a short time before by G. Marconi. Lifeboats arrived and all were rescued.

So what’s the coldest place ever recorded on this planet’ Well, that would be Vostok, Antarctica on July 21st 1983. Got down to minus 129.

Now that we’ve learned that, what about the hottest’sept. 13, 1922 in El Azizia, Libya. Before the day was over, it got up to 136 degrees.

It’s been said that one of the reasons Benjamin Franklin wasn’t allowed to write the Declaration of independence was because some feared he would conceal a joke in it. Apparently old Ben was somewhat of a prankster.

On that vein, remember that Martin Van Buren was the first man to become President after having been born in the United States. All the ones before were born in the colonies.

Jesse is the father of King David. What was his mother’s name’ Can’t find it in the Bible. David has several brothers and sisters, but there isn’t any mention of his mother’s name that we can find.

Most people don’t know that in September of 1942, a Japanese plane actually bombed parts of Oregon in an attempt to set the forests on fire. The plane had been carried over on a submarine (the I-25). It wasn’t until many years later that this information was released. This was the first time the US mainland had ever been bombed.

The English inventor and chemist named John Walker never took out a patent on his best invention, matches. He thought they should belong to the public.

Did you know there are over 35 million digestive glands in the stomach’ You do now.

Odd thing about the two letters, sn…They turn up in many different words in the English language always in relationship to the word nose. For example, sneeze, sneer, snicker, snort, snob (to turn up your nose at someone), snout, snuff, snarl and to snoop (stick your nose into someone’s affairs).

The Cathedral of Notre dame at Amiens was built to hold 10,000 people. The

entire population of the town could attend services at the same time.

So, who was the only person whose image on a postage stamp was determined by a vote’ Well, surprise, surprise, it was Elvis Presley in 1993. The public was given a choice between a younger version and an older. They choose the younger.

Which city in the world takes such pride in their sewer system that they offer tours to visitors’ Why, Paris, France of course.

Santa’s brother’s name is Bells. At least according to some Dutch and French tradition. He comes back to visit children on New Years Eve and brings cookies and cakes.

The Amazon River produces so much fresh water that you can still drink it more than a hundred miles after it gets to the Atlantic Ocean.

You’ve heard the term .”the cat’s out of the bag.” Well, this originated when you used to go to the store with your own sack. It was made of burlap in those days, not paper or plastic. Seems dishonest merchants would often sell you a pig, but substitute a cat in it’s place. When you got home, many miles and hours later, you’d find out you’d been cheated and thus the phrase.

By the way, this is also where the term, buying a “pig in a poke” came from.

It was in 1988 that Princess Diana made the immortal statement.” I would walk miles for a bacon sandwich.”

What’s a bird sonogram’ It’s an electronic visual reproduction of birds calling produced by a sound spectrograph.

Is our blood really blue’ Nope, just appears that way since the deep veins don’t get much sunlight. Those blood vessels and veins closest to the surface show up as red. The blue ones are just too deep to be affected by any sunlight. Kind of like losing the color the deeper you go when you’re scuba diving.

You knew that Nero didn’t fiddle while Rome burned. First off, the fiddle hadn’t been invented. Also, Nero was having a party over in Antium, which was over 50 miles away. Is this the first case of spin politics’

I’ll bet you didn’t know there are over 9,000 species of grass. All members of the Poaceae family. This is the most numerous of all flowering plants.

Freud had to have someone go with him whenever he rode a train. He never learned how to read a railroad timetable.