“Every cloud has a silver lining” goes the old saying. This week, Tidbits digs deep for the facts on this shiny metal. • We get the word silver from the old Anglo-Saxon word seolfor. Silver’s atomic number on the periodic table is 47, which denotes the number of protons found in the nucleus of its […]
• “ National Lampoon’s Animal House” is a comedy about a misfit group of fraternity members who challenge the authority of the dean of Faber College. Directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi, it was a surprise hit when it was released in 1978. • The movie was set to be filmed at the […]
Memorable Movie • Dashiell Hammett wrote a very popular story called “The Maltese Falcon” in 1930, which was made into several films. But the Warner Bros. version produced in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Huston was the one that everyone remembers. The plot follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings […]
• During World War II, Oskar Schindler saved over 1,000 Jews by employing them in his factories and shielding them from the Nazis. One of the Jews he saved was a man named Leopold Page. When the war ended, Page moved to Beverly Hills and set up a shop on Rodeo Drive selling leather goods. […]
• H.L. Mencken gathered over 40 stories concerning the origin of the cocktail. The one thing that is certain about the cocktail is that the word first appeared in print in 1806. • The story goes a widow owned a tavern around 1779 in New York. There she entertained rebel soldiers. They often complained about […]
IT’S PARADE TIME! by Kathy Wolfe Everybody loves a parade! In conjunction with the New Year’s Day parades, Tidbits marches along several parade routes, bringing you the info on these processions. • Ticker-tape parades are a well-known occurrence in New York City. The first such event took place in 1886 and honored the dedication of […]
TIDBITS® PETS CATS by Janet Spencer There are an estimated half a billion cats in the world, of which about 100 million are domestic pet cats living in the U.S. About 68% of American households own at least one cat. Come along with Tidbits as we pet our cats! CAT HISTORY • A doctoral student […]
BLOOD TRANSFUSION by Janet Spencer The average human has about 5 quarts of blood, and 60,000 miles of blood vessels. A single blood cell completes a circuit of the circulatory system in about 30 seconds. Come along with Tidbits as we get a blood transfusion! TO THE RESCUE • For centuries, doctors tried to heal […]
The word avalanche comes from the Old French “avalanste” meaning “to let down” or “to go downstream.” Come along with Tidbits as we out-run avalanches! TOTALLY TRIVIAL • There are about 9,000 known snow avalanches per year in the western U.S., although unrecorded avalanches may top 100,000. About 100 avalanches per year cause serious problems […]
