Here are some assorted facts and figures worth pondering:
Earning their keep: To make a pound of honey, bees must dip a proboscis into 2 million individual flowers.
What’s in a name: Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by Bayer. Coca Cola is the brand name given to a soft drink when cocaine was legal and in common use.
Help the working girl: Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult.
No contact sports: People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport.
Very wise man: Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.
How about halitosis? Ancient Roman, Chinese and German societies often used urine as mouthwash.
Lady Gaga please note: In the Renaissance era, it was the fashion to shave ladies’ eyebrows off.
Poetry in sleep: “Saint Agnes’ Eve” is when a young woman dreams of her future husband. All the other evenings are for a young man to dream of NASCAR.
A green world: Glass never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times.
Time for a cold beer: When a human body is sufficiently dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
Just desserts: Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.
No air conditioning: Nine out of every 10 living things reside in the ocean.
How symbolic: The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man
The Greeks have a name for it: In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.
Big pharma: The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent.
No charge for extra bags: For every extra pound carried on a space flight, 530 pounds of fuel are needed at lift-off.
IQ and dreaming: The higher the IQ, the more dreams – which last, by the way, from 2 to 3 seconds. There seem to be no comparative measurements between pleasant dreams and nightmares.
Balance the budget: Fort Knox has 4,600 tons of gold, which is worth a bit less than 90 days of U.S. expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Lone Star state: A former Texas governor, Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, opposed the teaching of foreign languages: “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for us.” The present Texas governor, Mr. Perry, expects that prayers will produce rain and does not believe in evolution.
Who cares? Since Obama took office, the percentage of adults over 50 targeted for investment fraud has increased 100 percent.
Real estate price comparisons: The median sale price of a single family residence in the United States last year was $166,200. A 50-square-foot storage unit in one Manhattan building cost $200,000 .
Realtor speak: 2,970,000 home sales were double-listed by the National Association of Realtors in the past three years.
A penny saved: The U.S. mint would save $50 million a year if it ceased efforts to circulate the $1 coin.
Annie Oakley: Since 2001, the percentage of female target shooters has increased 46 percent.
Who needs a lawyer? Including traffic and drug offenses, by age 23, 30 percent of Americans will have been arrested.
Values are relative: Miami’s Miller School of Medicine pays “professional patients” 40 bucks for each breast or pelvic exam – but only 30 for each genital or rectal exam.
Who supports whom? Goldman Sachs employees rank No. 1 among all of Mitt Romney’s contributors.
Who misses whom? North Korea reports that several hundred magpies and at least one weeping mother bear mourned the death of Kim Jong II.
The U.S. standing among world nations: Tobacco use, 41st. Life expectancy, 24th. Obesity, 24th. Math scores, 31st. Abortions, 24th.
Rodney Quinn, a former Maine secretary of state and university history and government instructor, lives in Westbrook. He can be reached at rquinn@maine.rr.com.
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