Ponder
Points
So, if you were
buying a Super Bowl ad in the first game in 1967…what would you have
paid? About $85,000 for a full minute…now it’s over $1,000,000 for
each ½ minute……
So did you ever
actually count and see for yourself that there were 28 tiles in a
game of dominoes? There are.
Before 1908 the
Olympic Marathon was 26 miles….why did it change? 385 yards were
added to the race so that it would finish in front of King Edward
VII’s royal box in London. He must have had some pull.
Where’d we get the
term…..”Red herring”? From the sport of fox hunting….anti-hunting
activist used to drag herrings across the path of the dogs to throw
them off the scent of the fox…..Is this new? Nope, started back in
the 17th century….folks still up in arms about it aren’t
they?
You remember
CinemaScope? Can you tell me what film was the first to be made in
it? “The Robe” back in 1953.
Come on think about
this…what’s the most often printed warning in the history of the
printed word? “Close cover before striking” Used on match book
covers…….did you get it?
What industry was
the first to adopt the 5-day, 40-hour workweek? The steel industry
in 1923.
Ford Motor had
produced 1,000,000 cars by 1922…what year did they hit the 2,000,000
mark? Took them all of one more year. Did it again in 1923.
So, did you ever
even think about where Robert Fulton launched his first steamboat?
No, well, it was in Paris in 1803….the first one sank…but he did
better in 1807 when he steamed up the Hudson River.
In 1888 when Kodak
first marketed the box camera, you got the camera and a roll of film
with 100 exposures on it for $100.
Another point
concerning Ford….the Model T, came out in 1908….had a 22 horsepower
engine….got 25 to 30 miles to a gallon….not bad…
If you said that
the White House was the first building erected by the Federal
Government in Washington, D.C…..You’d be right…..John Adams first
occupied the executive mansion in 1800.
The White House is
the most visited home in the country…what house is second?
Graceland, in Memphis of course…The King still lives…somewhere.
So, what did it
cost per acre for the Alaska purchase in 1867? A little over 2 cents
for each acre…
Charles Richard
Drew organized the first blood bank in this country….but he couldn’t
give to it….why? Law of the Land…segregation…Charles Richard Drew
was an African American. The year was 1941….
You’d have to be
dead for how long before you can get honored with a United States
Postage Stamp? Mere mortals have to be dead at least 10
years….Presidents only have to be deceased for 1 year…..
What’s the name of
the first weekly magazine to sell a billion copies in a year? TV
Guide…1974
Where’d they get
the old copper that was used to repair the Statue of Liberty in
1986? From a roof on a Bell Laboratory building…..If they had used
new copper it would have been bright …not green.
The longest strait
in the world is located at the Strait of Malacca…it’s about 500
miles long, runs between the Malay Peninsula and the island of
Sumatra.
So if you were in
Fiji …what language would you speak? Fijian, of course.
In order to force
Queen Victoria to learn to keep her chin up, they would put springs
of holly beneath her collar. Mean people…..
Loopholes….where’d
we get that word? The narrow windows that were built into the walls
of castles back in medieval days….doesn’t mean the same today does
it?
Ancient Japanese
used to use kites to get building products up on the roofs of tall
buildings….pretty smart.
If you’re in
England and someone asks you to pick up a bag of Baps at the
store…What do they want? Hamburger buns…Where did this come
from?
Along those same
lines…..Where’d we get the word ‘strike’? Came from the English
sailors refusal to “strike” or lower the sails in 1768…..Refusing to
work is now known as a strike.
The Crown of
England….used only at coronations…weighs in at just over 7
pounds…..No wonder they don’t wear it very often…….
Louis XIV had a
ballet written for him…what was it called and what part did he play?
It was called “The Sun King” and guess what role his majesty played?
I’m not going to tell you…..You have to guess.
So, you’re in the
“Valley of 10,000 Smokes”……where are you? Well, you aren’t in a
tobacco growing state…you’d be in Alaska…..Called that because of
the volcanic steam that is coming up out of the ground…..
Mistletoe is the
state flower for Rhode Island…..You knew that…
Ralph Nader has
only had one car in his life…..Any idea what it was? Yep, it was a
1949 Studebaker that he sold over 30 years ago…guess he doesn’t like
cars.
Juliette Low, the
founder of the Girl Scouts was handicapped…..What was her handicap?
She was deaf.
So, the polltaker
George Gallup…what was his first poll and when was it taken? He took
one at the University of Iowa in the early 1920’s to find the
prettiest girl on the campus…..Found her…married her.
Michigan has the
longest shoreline of any inland state. Over 3,100 miles.
You know this…..Tonto’s
horse was named Scout…..You remember the old TV series ..”The Lone
Ranger” don’t you?
Kleenex tissues
were introduced in 1924…..Came out as a cold cream remover….later
found out they were being used to blow noses …..Made sense…..
The ancient God of
dreams for the Greeks was called Morpheus……
Just 2 books in the
Bible are named for women….Ruth and Esther….
The streetlights in
Hershey, Pennsylvania are designed to look like Hershey kisses.
The only known free
roaming panthers left in the United States are found in what state?
If you said Florida…you’d be correct.
Hernando de Soto of
Spain was the first European to see the Mississippi River…..Did it
in the year 1541…died in 1542…..
That first
Thanksgiving in 1621…how long did it last? Three days….they had
dancing and lots of athletic events…..Plus some mead and beer…..
Just how many
Ringling Brothers were there anyway? Seven…headed by John…the others
helped out with the circus in one way or another.
People magazine
came out on March 4, 1974……who was on the first cover? Mia
Farrow…..You knew that? Good for you.
You’ve been asking
yourself…..”What’s the longest street in the United States” haven’t
you? Well, it’s Figueroa St. in Los Angeles….runs for about 30 miles
or so……now you know….
