• The Coinage Act of 1792 created the U.S. Mint. At the time, some coins were made out of gold or silver, while other coins were not made of precious metals. People kept shaving the edges of the gold and silver coins, so they could still spend the coins while keeping some of the gold and silver. As a result, ridges were added to the edges of the precious metal coins so that shaving would be obvious and the coins could no longer be spent. The U.S. Mint stopped making gold coins during the Great Depression, and the Coinage Act […]
January 2023
Wallis Simpson – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – • Queen Elizabeth, who died in 2022, suffered various scandals during her long reign, but none that matched the fervor caused by her uncle, King Edward VIII. That scandal was precipitated by a love affair with his paramour, Wallis Simpson. • Bessie Wallis Warfield was born in 1896 in Pennsylvania to wealthy parents and learned to be a debutante. • She fell in love with a young pilot, Earl Winfield, and married him in 1916. Unfortunately, Earl was a drinker, and Wallis was a flirt. The divorce was soon finalized. • Wallis soon married again, […]
TIDBITS® Collects Dollar Bill$
by Janet Spencer Come along with Tidbits as we learn about the dollar bill! FA$T FACT$ • The dollar bill hasn’t changed since 1963. The $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills have all been redesigned in the last decade, with the Federal Reserve adding color and watermarks to outsmart counterfeiters. But the dollar bill has remained unchanged because this denomination is infrequently counterfeited. • Another possible reason that the dollar bill never changes is the lobbying done by the vending-machine industry, which would have to redesign its machines to accommodate new bills should the current design get an overhaul. […]
Dragonflies
If you don’t know much about dragonflies, you’ve come to the right place! This week, Tidbits passes along the facts about these members of the Anisoptera infra-order, of which there are more than 5,000 known species. • The word Anisoptera has its roots in the Greek language, combining “anisos” meaning “unequal,” and “pteron,” which translates “wing,” because this insect’s hindwing is broader than its forewing. • A dragonfly has large, multifaceted eyes, containing up to 30,000 individual elements known as ommatidia, each consisting of a lens system and a group of light sensitive cells. The eyes have a 360-degree visual […]
Annie Edson Taylor – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – The name of Annie Edson Taylor isn’t well-known in history, but her feat was truly astounding! This week, Tidbits has gone overboard with the facts on the first woman to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. • Annie was just 25 when her husband was killed in the Civil War. For the next 38 years, she struggled financially, single and broke. She worked as a traveling schoolteacher, but the pay was poor and she could never get ahead. After reading a magazine article about folks who became famous for riding in […]
TIDBITS® Says “O” Boy
By Kathy Wolfe O wow! O boy! O my! O I see! Let’s see what Tidbits has to offer with these words beginning with the letter “O.” • It’s the 15th letter of the alphabet, and thought to be the oldest letter, about 3,150 years old. Ancient Syrians called the letter “o” ayin, which translates “eye.” “O” is about the fourth most-commonly used letter in English printed material. • The 24th and final letter of the Greek alphabet is omega, often used to mean “the last” of a series. • The most common blood type is O positive, about 38% […]
The Potato Blight
• A single acre of reasonably fertile cropland can yield an annual harvest of 6 tons of potatoes. Because they grew so well in Ireland, they became a staple crop. They were easy to grow even in difficult soils; were impervious to invading armies who tended to burn down wheat and oat fields; did not require a trip to a mill but could be taken directly from the ground to the cookpot; kept well all winter long; and were nutritious. • By the late 1700s, a typical Irish family of six consumed about 250 lbs (113 kg) of potatoes […]
Robert Earl Hughes – People Worth Remembering –
– PEOPLE WORTH REMEMBERING – • Jon Minnoch has held the world record for the heaviest human ever to live since 1978 when he died at the age of 42, weighing in at 1,400 lbs. (635 kg). But before him, Robert Earl Hughes held the record at 1,071 lbs. (486 kg). • Robert Earl Hughes was born in 1926 and grew up in Fishhook, Illinois. He weighed 9 lbs. (4 kg) when he was born. • When he was a few months old, he came down with whooping cough. Although he recovered, doctors theorize this illness damaged either his thyroid […]
TIDBITS® Gobbles Fungi
by Janet Spencer Fungi enter our lives in many different ways: the bread we eat; the yogurt and cheese we consume; the wine and beer we drink; the antibiotics we take for infections. Come along with Tidbits as we have fun with fungi! A PERVASIVE PLANT • It’s estimated that there are somewhere between 2.2 and 3.8 million species of fungi in the world, which is six to ten times more than the estimated number of plant species. It’s estimated that only about 6% of all fungal species have been discovered. To date, only about 135,000 have been named. • […]
Rodents
Most of us don’t care much for rodents. Some are just plain nuisances, while others are destructive. But they’re not all terrible. Here are the facts, both good and bad! • The word “rodent” has its roots in Latin word “rodere,” which means “to gnaw, eat away, or prey upon.” Rodents belong to the order Rodentia, with more than 2,200 different species, and are all mammals covered with hair, accounting for about 43% of all mammals worldwide. They all have tails, and give birth to and nurse living young. Rodents also have the structure of their teeth and jaws […]
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