Humor
Published: 17/07/2008
In 1906 a 21-year-old inventor from Nova Scotia went to work in the basement of his sister's home in New England. That's where Alfred Fuller intended to make "the best products of their kind in the world" and that's how he started the Fuller Brush Company. Since then the company has grown from...
Published: 14/07/2008
For years we have seen the lollipop lady as a figure head in traffic calming but is she really such a strong force, what will happen if you ignore her, perhaps a fate worst than death is in hand, are we perhaps all scared that she will jump in the air and throw each side of her shinny yellow coat...
Published: 12/07/2008
Pets have therapeutic value. Although studies have shown that patting a dog or cat can lower blood pressure and reduce stress, dogs and cats aren't allowed in most hospitals and nursing homes. Baby seals, however, are - if they're robotic baby seals. A Japanese company has created Paro, a robotic...
Published: 11/07/2008
In my search for longevity I read The Blue Zones - Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest. According to this best seller, there are four areas of the world where lifestyles have enabled people to live to be over one hundred - Costa Rica, Okinawa, Sardinia and Loma...
Published: 10/07/2008
Two years ago there were fourteen Americans on the list of the world's twenty richest people. Now there are four. Thanks to Warren Buffett and his $62 billion, an American remains on op of the list and Buffett can thank his company, Berkshire Hathaway. Being able to float loans enables Buffett to...
Published: 07/07/2008
In 1955 when researchers counted the punctuation in period texts they found a change in our way of communicating. They discovered there had been a surprising drop in semicolon usage between the 18th and 19th centuries. The drop from 68.1 semicolons per one thousand words to 17.7 was attributed to...
Published: 04/07/2008
It's been said that a person has a better chance of getting into Harvard than the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. This fact highlights the extensive admission process and the seriousness of learning to be a clown. The clown college only accepts about 50 applicants per year...
Published: 04/07/2008
I admit it. I've taken my feet for granted. I've forced them into shoes because the shoes looked good - not because they felt good. After years of this abuse I'm feeling "defeeted".
After a bit of sole searching - of my shoes - I discovered that the majority of shoe designers are men. I...
Published: 02/07/2008
Until a recent trip to Vermont I thought Vermont was one of the original thirteen states. Wrong. Vermont had wanted to be its own country. It changed its mind in time to become the fourteenth state in the union. I also learned that Vermont is the most rural of the fifty states. One-third of its...
Published: 01/07/2008
Everyday mysteries are things that you unsuccessfully try to understand. Somnambulism is as mysterious to me as the condition it describes - sleepwalking. Only 1.2% of the population sleepwalks, which explains why I've never known anyone with the condition. Sleepwalkers are supposedly in a...
