Liar, liar, pants on fire! Who lies and why? This week, Tidbits tells the truth about lies! • Prevaricator, falsifier, deceiver, perjurer … no matter what you call them, it’s a person who does not tell the truth, one who makes “an intentionally false statement.” Why do we do it? There are many reasons we do it, but almost always it’s for some degree of self-protection, to prevent damage to one’s reputation, and to avoid confronting facts and feelings. • Research supports the concept that 95% of people cannot go an entire week without telling at least one lie. […]
Irena Sendler – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – Thousands of people are alive today due to the efforts of a 30-year-old Polish social worker named Irena Sendler. Here’s the story of this remarkable woman. • In 1939, when the Nazis invaded Warsaw, Poland, Irena Sendler was a social worker, working in the city’s canteens that offered food, shelter, medicine, and clothing to the city’s persecuted Jews, who were registered at the facility under fictitious Christian names. In October, 1940, more than 400,000 Jews were forced into a locked area about the size of New York’s Central Park. As she observed thousands dying […]
TIDBITS® Offers a March Mixture
by Kathy Wolfe As March comes in like a lion, Tidbits offers facts about this month’s events. • Although we know March as the third month of the year, it wasn’t always so! In the oldest Roman calendars, the year was just ten months long, and March was the first month. January and February weren’t added until about 700 B.C., and March became the third month. It was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. • On March 20 or 21 each year, the sun is directly above the equator, making the day and night of equal length. This […]
Poisonous Mushrooms
• There are millions of species of mushrooms in the world. Of those, about 700 are edible, while around 400 are toxic. There’s a saying that states, “All mushrooms are edible – some, only once.” • There are about two dozen potentially deadly mushrooms in the U.S. Most “poisonous” mushrooms will cause unpleasant symptoms, but are not life-threatening. On average, one or two people die of mushroom poisoning in the U.S. every year. • Of the approximately 10,000 calls received by Poison Control Centers each year, about 80% involve toddlers at the stage where they put everything in their mouths, […]
Atahualpa – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – • In 1526 or 1527, the Inca ruler, Huayna Capac (“the young mighty one”), died, possibly due to an infectious disease brought to the New World by Europeans. His designated heir died too. Therefore, the empire was split in two, with two of Huayna’s other sons each ruling half of the kingdom: Atahualpa ruled the northern part from Quito, and Huascar ruled the southern part from Cusco. • Not surprisingly, civil war broke out between the two brothers. Huascar captured and imprisoned Atahualpa, who escaped, and subsequently waged war on Huascar. It was a crushing […]
TIDBITS® Swims in Lakes
by Janet Spencer Come along with Tidbits as we swim in some remarkable lakes! FAST FACTS ABOUT LAKES • There are around 117 million lakes on planet Earth, covering about 3.7% of the surface. About 75% of them are smaller than the size of two football fields. • A majority of the world’s lakes are located in just four countries: Canada, Finland, Russia, and Sweden—plus Alaska. • More than 60% of the lakes of the world are in Canada, more than any other country. Canada is the largest source of fresh water in the world. • 85% of the world’s […]
Jordon and Barkley
The year 1992 marked the first time that professional basketball players were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. Prior teams were made up of collegiate players and occasionally AAU players. Nicknamed the “Dream Team,” the team included such greats as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson. The Dream Team defeated its Olympic opponents by an average of 44 points. • For a guy who initially didn’t make his Wilmington, North Carolina high school varsity basketball team, Michael Jordan managed to come out okay! Most folks agree that he […]
Milton B. Loeb – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – He’s known as the “Father of the Brillo pad.” How did attorney Milton B. Loeb gain this title? Follow along and see! • It was the early 1900s and kitchens were equipped with heavy cast iron cookware, but a new product had burst on the scene. Aluminum pots and pans had made their debut! There was only one major drawback – they blackened easily and were nearly impossible to clean. • A cookware peddler and his jeweler brother-in-law put their heads together to solve that problem. They started with jeweler’s rouge, a jewelry polishing […]
TIDBITS® Salutes Basketball Legends
by Kathy Wolfe Swish! This week, Tidbits heads to the court to check out these legends of the sport. • Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. was born in 1947, weighing in at 12 lbs, 11 oz. By age nine, he was already 5’ 8” tall, and when he reached 8th grade, he stood 6’ 8”. He finally topped out at 7’2”. Alcindor attended a parochial high school in New York City, where he set a record for most points scored. His college career began in 1965 at UCLA, where he scored a record 56 points in his first game. He […]
Lichens
• The International Space Station often hosts a number of trays attached to the exterior of the spacecraft. Inside the trays are various substances: bacteria, algae, fungi, tardigrades, and so on. They are there to see if they can survive exposure to the harsh conditions and cosmic rays of space. So far, the best survival rate has been found in lichens. • Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungus. A German botanist coined the term “symbiosis” in 1877 specifically to describe the partnership involved in lichens. • With lichens, algae provide energy produced through photosynthesis, while the fungus […]