Happy New Year!
Once again, I am a horrible blogger. I
am so sorry!
I am going to amuse you with random
bits of information for lack of anything better to write about.
1. The dangly thing on the turkey's
beak is called a snood. It's
length is apparently tied directly to the turkey's health.
2. The game of golf
was invented when a hobbit named Bullroarer knocked the head off the
Goblin king, Golfimbul, and it went down a rabbithole.
At least, that's
the story according to Professor J.R.R Tolkien... ;)
3. People used to
have wooden bed frames, with ropes tied across to support the
mattress. Every once in a while, you would have to tighten them up.
Thus, “Sleep tight.”
4. John Dillinger
(Public Enemy Number One) wasn't actually the leader of his gang. The
actual leader was Harry 'Pete' Pierpont. The papers leaked that
Dillinger was the leader to try and create dissent among the bank
robbers, but it never did.
5. The
Second Battalion of the 506th
Parachute Infantry had to take a standard physical fitness test in
1943. They scored a 97 percent. A colonel from Washington thought
they had rigged the test, since it was the highest ever scored. “They
had us run it a second time, officers, men, service personnel, cooks,
everybody-- and we scored 98 percent.”-- Richard Winters.
(If
you would like to verify this, it's page 37 of Stephen Ambrose's Band
of Brothers, near the very end
of chapter 2)
6.
Billy the Kid wasn't really left-handed. The tintype reflects the
image, and it just made it look
like he was left handed.
7. General Ethan
Allen, who fought in the American Revolutionary War, was on his death
bed when informed by the doctor treating him, “I fear the angels
are waiting for you.”
His response?
“Waiting are they? Waiting are they? Well, let 'em wait!”
8. As
most Americans know, our National Anthem, 'The Star Spangled Banner',
was originally a poem by Francis Scott Key. What a lot of people
don't know is that the
tune is that of a British drinking song.
9. Thomas Jefferson
had 6 children, but only 2 lived to adulthood.
10. General Robert
E. Lee had a pet chicken named Nellie. (
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2011/11/the-civil-war-8-strange-and-obscure-facts-you-didnt-know/
)
Farewell and adieu,
my friends!
