Category: Useless Information

59 Things to Smile About

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59 Things to Smile About

Let's talk about smiles today

59 Things to Smile About

 

By D. S. Mitchell

 

1.) The roll of thunder and the flash of lightening

2.) The sound of crows calling
3.) Grandma’s 1940 aluminum cake carrier
4.) Having a flower budget
5.) Toddlers in sandboxes
6.) Homemade tamales
7.) Fresh baked apple pie
8.) Big Sur
9.) Fire trucks all red and shiny
10.) Liquor in crystal decanters

11.) Walking the dunes
12.) Tillamook cheddar cheese
13.) Sails in the wind
14.) Still saving my change in a piggy bank
15.) Making church steeples with my hands
16.) Finding a parking space at the front door
17.) Making Cannabis truffles
18.) Eating Cannabis truffles
19.) A ‘she-shed’ for the garden
20.) Waltzing in the Pittock Mansion ballroom
21.) Scrabble on a rainy Sunday

22.) My Alma Mater, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
23.) Daddy’s cherished gray ‘Bogie’ Fedora
24.) Snowmobile races
25.) 501’s and a leather jacket
26.) The art section at Goodwill
27.) Lake life
28.) Ping Pong basement championships

29.) Making floral bouquets from flowers collected from the yard
30.) High school football games
31.) White cotton shorts
32.) Being nice when someone calls you vulgar names on Twitter
33.) Astoria Sunday Market, on a sunny day
34.) A drive up mailbox
35.) A dog

36.) A cat
37.) Fresh baked bread
38.) First day of school
39.) Last day of school
40.) Wainscotting
41.) Cheese fondue with little bread squares
42.) Having read every book on the shelf
43.) Shiny oak floors
44.) First ski week-end
45.) A Blue Heron in the marsh

46.) Walking hand in hand with a child
47.) Wrapped peppermints in a glass dish
48.) Making pictures out of clouds
49.) Old photo albums
50.) Peanuts and popcorn at the ball game
51.) Oversize reckless, passionate modern art pieces
52.) Never feeling older than 17
53.) Powell’s Books, Pearl District, Portland, Oregon
54.) Spring wildflowers

55.) White curtains, blowing gently on a summer breeze

56.) Looking at childhood pictures in an old photo album

57.) Catching crawdads with my grandson

58.) Lunch with the girls

59.) Snuggling and cuddling with someone special

I hope some of my reasons to smile, made you smile. Tomorrow, Calamity News and Politics will be back covering the Washington, D.C. hotplate, and I doubt  there will be many reasons to smile in that environment.

 

 

Summer Sun and Fun

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Summer Sun and FunPink Flamingo Get a Lot of Attention

Summer Sun and Fun

By Anna Hessel

 

It’s Not Over ‘Til It’s Over

As summer comes to its close, here are some fun reflections and sage advice on how to enjoy the remainder of the season…

Everybody In The Pool…

The opening of our local water parks and pools proved to be much fun; I can’t help but notice the difference between how men and women prepare for a day at the pool.  Since a week in Tahiti to get in the right mind set is a bit unrealistic, women begin with a mani-pedi, bikini wax at the European Wax Center, and a stop for beachy waves at their salon of choice.

Shop ‘Til You Drop

Of course, a trip to the favorite shopping center is in order (including the requisite stop at Starbuck’s for a mocha latte) to choose several new swimsuits, swim skirts, swim coverups, sundresses, two pair of designer sunglasses, toe rings, ankle bracelets, sandals, flip-flops, an attractive beach tote with a pretty scarf tied to the handle to carry it all in (mine is pink), a sun umbrella (mine is pink), beach towels from Big Lots (mine are pink), and a straw sun hat from the local millinery boutique.

Just A Few Sundries

Next comes the cosmetics: sunscreen in various levels of SPF, clarifying shampoo,  dry shampoo, volumizing conditioner, hair mousse, papaya body wash, hyacinth body scrub, coconut almond moisture bath bar, cucumber melon moisturizing spray, Tiki Beach body spray from Bath & Body Works, deodorant/antiperspirant, pre-tan accelerator, after-sun lotion, spray-on lotion, cocoa butter hand cream, pina colada flavored tinted lip balm with SPF, waterproof mascara, waterproof blush, bronzer, BB cream with SPF, lavender mint moisturizer, Avon Skin So Soft, makeup remover, grapefruit toner, day cream, eye cream from Rodan + Fields, mandarin orange body butter, peach foot cream, body firming lotion, talc-free powder, mint mouthwash, travel size toothbrush and whitening toothpaste, waterproof brow gel, Clinique Chubby Stick in Cherry, Band-Aids (mine are Hello Kitty – they were out of pink) , antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizer, brush, comb, curling iron, flat iron, hot rollers, blow dryer (mine is Hello Kitty and pink), water bottle (mine is pink), waterproof smartphone cover (mine is pink), headphones (mine are pink), fresh unmentionables (may I mention, mine are pink), wash cloth, fingertip towel (mine is guess what color? Pink!), loofa, and shower pouf (mine is pink).

Read On…

Add in some quality reading material, including the Good Book, the latest issue of Elle, Glamour, Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, a Harlequin “Love Inspired” romance, a Legally Blonde novel, and of course, something by Debbie Macomber.  Now if you are a mom, taking your children to the pool, the above list will most likely triple in size, adding healthy and fun snacks (just don’t eat them on the pool deck), a bevy of swim toys, water wings, and lots of Little Swimmers Diapers for the littlest ones.

All That Truck

As my husband was getting out the hand truck to take my teensie beach tote to the car, all the while muttering something about hernias and the kitchen sink missing, I snuck a peak at his beach bag: last year’s swim trunks in a plastic grocery sack from Walmart; you gotta’ love a man with style…

Waxing Eloquent

Of course, one of my favorite parts of summer is a trip to the full-fledged water park; this means a major hair removal spree – winter allows us to only shave to the knee.  I tried on my new swimsuit and looked like an orangutan wearing tube socks.  I better add a Brazilian wax to my pedicure on the beauty prep list.  I often wonder, why this waxing is not referred to as Australian or the Cuban wax?  Let’s just refer to it as a bikini wax, shall we?

Packing Light

As I am packing my new tote bag for the park (mine is pink with matching princess beach towel), I notice my husband is packing his plastic grocery bag.  In goes an old Spiderman beach towel, his brand-new swim trunks (his are light blue with orange pineapples emblazoned on them), a faded purple T-shirt, and green flip-flops for his feet.  He adds a Cubs hat in their trademark dark blue to this cheeky ensemble.

I Don’t Know Him

Upon arrival at the water park, I pretend I don’t know my spouse of 31 years.  I receive a sympathetic glance from a well-coordinated woman whose husband is attired in a red, orange, and yellow Hawaiian shirt from three decades past, faded green trunks, and argyle socks with sandals.  He proudly pulls a T-shirt announcing “My kid went to Florida and all I got was this lousy shirt” from his paper grocery sack.  I smile and give a knowing nod to his attractive wife, taking comfort in the knowledge that my man has style…

Fly In The Flamingos

Of course, COVID had caused havoc with summer pool season 2020-2021 to be non-existent, so I was extremely grateful when swimming establishments re-opened last year. I am fully vaccinated and boosted and I am always more than ready for some fun in the sun.  Last season, however, patrons had to provide their own chairs; this fact sent me on a search for two matching loungers, a task that proved more difficult than I imagined.  I finally found a duo at a mass retailer, but the individual chairs were at separate locations.  To my chagrin, the set’s motif featured pink flamingos.  My favorite color, yes, but the graphics of the cartoonish form of the tall birds, not so much.  Back in the day, plastic flamingos were not considered the most elegant of décor, but now, there is a sea of them wherever I look.  They are all the rage – they have become the pumpkin spice of summer.

Don’t Be An Angry Bird

Don’t get me wrong, actual live flamingos are very cool birds.  But too much of a good thing is, well, too much.  I have seen flamingo everything: beach totes, towels, swimwear, sunglasses, pool floats, drinkware, dinnerware, neon-lit sculptures, solar yard lights, mailbox covers, flags, shower curtains complete with matching beak rings, earrings, robes, PJ’s, slippers, bedding, mani-pedi nail designs, and even out-of-season Christmas tree ornaments, just to name a few.  A wooden sign reminds me to be a flamingo standing tall, finding balance, getting your feet wet, to keep on digging until you find what you’re looking for, to remain flexible, support your flock, and of course, always be “fla-mazing”.  Now I will admit I have a tin plaque on my rear patio that announces one must, “Be a flamingo in a flock of pigeons”.  But to be quite honest, the entire flamingo craze escapes me.

Mine Is Pink, His, Well…

Since my lounge chair coordinates with my solid pink beach bag, towel, and flip-flops, I have somehow convinced myself that this sun chair purchase is whimsical.   My other half, although disappointed that he did not receive a navy and white striped beach lounger for his birthday, secure in his masculinity, he is making do with pink flamingos.  A glance in his direction shows he is extracting his old faded red and blue Spiderman beach towel from his plastic grocery bag, to spread across his pink flamingo chair, making us even more of a spectacle at the water park. As I lower my ample derriere to lounge upon the faces of 100 unsuspecting fake flamingos, I can’t help but wonder what in tarnation has happened to style…

The Dog Days of Summer

It’s hard to believe summer will soon be coming to an end – August, for me, means a wedding anniversary trip to yet another water park, one of the advantages of being married in the “dog days” of August.  This got me to thinking why we refer to the summer heat as “dog days”.  Our cats actually agree with our dog that they don’t like the heat, either.  I decided to do some research – in other words, I Googled it – to find that the phrase has nothing to do with doggies languidly sleeping in the shade.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

In reality, dogs are not involved at all per se – the origins of the phrase take us all the way back to ancient times in Rome and Greece; the star Sirius, a part of the constellation Canis Major, is called the “dog star”, and is the brightest shining in the waning summer sky.  It was considered the greater dog, which moved in the direction of the sun.  The star group normally can only be seen during the winter, but the Romans and Greeks were aware that the constellation, and the dog star itself, traveled towards the sun during the late summer, therefore called this time period the “dog days”.

The Phrase That Pains

This explanation led me to ponder about some other often-used phrases, which I must admit I find annoying.  The one which bothers me the most is the overused term “reach out” – in my opinion, reaching out is something one would do to aid their fellow man such as baking a cake for a sick neighbor or helping someone to change a tire.  Reaching out, to me, really has nothing to do with a call to the cable company, the bank, or my insurance agent.  Another rather silly nouveau cliché is the profound “it is what it is”; well, duh, it isn’t what it isn’t…  That made no sense, even to a blonde – please feel free to email your explanation.  I also find the phrase “we are moving in a different direction” particularly appalling, especially when used to terminate a long-term and loyal employee.  Back in the day we simply said, “you’re fired!”, because “it is what is”, and this reference has nothing to do with the dreaded Donald.

Until it Ends

Soon my fevered brain will be challenged  by the ridiculousness of pumpkin spice lattes, Santa decorated boxer shorts, and PJ’s emblazoned with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but until I fold up my pink beach towel and slide it into my little pink tote for the last day at the waterpark, let’s have some fun.

Women Of A Certain Age

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Women Of A Certain Age

We are Survivors of a hell of a lot. . . .

Women of a Certain Age, are survivors

Women Of A Certain Age

We are Survivors

By Anna Hessel

We Survived 

4 years of “The Donald”. Shoulder pads. Bouffant hair. Bodysuits that snapped down there. Mullets. We survived 45. Eighties fashions; including spandex and neon. Girdles that were never Spanx. Fighting for the ERA – we continue to survive this one. Thigh cream. Trump “presidency.” Platform shoes. Bell bottom pants that did nothing for our bottoms.

Nair For Short Shorts

Short shorts themselves. We survived 45 (and I’m not talking about the age…). Push up bras – some of us are still surviving this one. Aerobics classes at the ladies gym in brightly colored leg warmers. Jelly sandals. Ironing our hair with clothing irons. “That” administration. Velcro hair rollers (I actually still use mine!). Setting our hair on orange juice cans. Class photos, precursor to drivers license photos. Drinking from the garden hose.

The Trumpster

Suntans courtesy of baby oil and iodine with no SPF in sight. Junior High, High School, and College. Many of us survived childbirth, terrible twos, and raising teenagers. Gym class in uniforms that resembled prison garb. “Agent Orange.”  Powder Puff football games. Cheerleading skirts. Pageants with swimsuit competitions. Bridesmaid dresses. Rotary dial phones. Land lines. Twenty-six foot telephone cords. Beepers, and pay phones. Polyester pantsuits. 4 years of “The Family”. Paisley floral prints. Granny boots with ruffled dresses.

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Humor: 10 Places We’d Like To Haunt

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HALLOWEEN HUMOR:

10 Places We’d Like To Haunt

By D. S. Mitchell 

I was talking to David Shadrick recently and asked him what he wanted done with his remains after he died. Dave said he wanted to be buried. I volunteered that I wanted to be cremated. Dave asked me if I believed in ghosts. I told him, no. He laughed and said he wondered what it would be like to be able to haunt whatever place or whatever person you wanted. 

We could make this a party game, I thought. The only rule is that participants must say the first thing that comes to mind when asked, “where do you want to haunt?”

The following are some places we decided we wanted to haunt.

#1)  Area 51

#2)  The Nestle’s Chocolate Factory

#3)  Bicycle seats

#4)  Disneyland

#5)  Food Network Studio

#6)  Marvel Studio

#7)  WWE dressing room (Roman Reigns, yes!)

#8)  The VA Help Desk

#9)  The International Space Station

#10) Shower Rooms at the local college

Happy Halloween 2020!

 

WTF Moments

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I am still connected via media

Despite the government order to stay at home, I am still connected to the world via newspaper, wi-fi, streaming TV, Facebook, Twitter and cell phone.

WTF Moments

D. S. Mitchell

Staying Connected

Despite being on “stay home, stay safe” orders; I am still attached to the world via newspaper, cable television, Twitter, wi-fi and cell phone. Things are coming at me too fast and too furious for my liking. I am bobbing and weaving, when I should be writing, researching, petitioning and organizing.

Task Force

I watched the Trumpster conduct another overly long and contentious Coronavirus Task Force press briefing this afternoon. Trump, was arguing and fighting with the reporters. Insulting their race, their intent, and their talent. At one point, Trump pushed Dr. Fauci aside, telling a reporter to stop asking “the same question.”  “He’s answered that question, fifteen times.”

The Question

I read some place when you hire a clown, expect a circus..

A clever person once said, “elect a clown, expect a circus.”

The question reporters and the public keep asking is why is Trump touting the  unapproved anti-malarial medication, hydroxycloroquine for coronavirus treatment?  If these briefings were ever informative they have dissolved into what one reporter described as a “three-ring circus with Trump as the deranged ringmaster”. This is what happens when a narcissist takes over the government of a country.

Trump Circus

Watching the now daily Trump “circus” via television is like so many of those other WTF moments I’ve experienced during my life. I’ve thought how things, common things, deliver a “doesn’t that figure moment.” So, I decided that maybe, just for laughs, I should point out some of the those WTF moments. Here are a few that I came up with. I’m sure everyone has a list of their own.

Here’s Those WTF Moments:

  1. Having a bathroom so close to the living room that anybody sitting on my couch can hear my urine splashing in the toilet bowl.
  2. Knowing that I was doing 85 in a 70 mile per hour zone with no plausible or believable explanation.
  3. People whose only contribution to the political conversation is, “Lock her up.”
  4. Accidentally setting my alarm for 3 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.
  5. When the only thing in the fridge is a bottle of Perrier and two empty ice trays.
  6. Not finding toilet paper on three visits to the grocery store.
  7. Realizing that I am center brained.
  8. When some old lady yells at me from across the street, “Why don’t you get a job?”
  9. Finding out my significant other hid my birthday gift in the pocket of the old coat I packed up yesterday and sent to the Goodwill.
  10. A dog that only comes when it wants to.
  11. Having a strong physical attraction to John Heilemann and Steve Schmidt.
  12. Knowing that bullies are often financially successful, or sentenced to life plus 30 years.
  13. Trying to stop thinking about every word I said in that nasty argument.
  14. Realizing that I was in all black the last time I saw him, and all black again, today.
  15. When I start thinking about what I’ll have for lunch at 7 a.m.
  16. The last day of my vacation, getting grounded in Iceland and can’t return to the U.S. because the country has suspended flights from the UK.
  17. Knowing that “I don’t know,” is not an acceptable answer.
  18. Suddenly realizing who I am talking to on the phone, isn’t who I thought I was talking to.
  19. Saving 100’s of old decorating magazines, because I may decide to redecorate.
  20. Keeping a secret, only to find out that everybody else already knows the secret.
  21. Going to a movie made from a great book and after the showing wondering why someone wasted so much money to ruin something beautiful.
  22. Aware that serial murder guarantees instant fame.
  23. When Tonya Harding is the most famous person I’ve ever met.
  24. When my cell phone reception is so bad I have to hang out the dining room window to talk to my son fifteen miles away.
  25. Knowing that $20.00 won’t cover a 4 oz bottle of hand sanitizer.

Trump Crazy

My list of WTF moments are really just daily irritations and small injustices. Most are funny and a bit annoying, but not life threatening.  I wish I could say the same about what I am hearing come out of the mouth of Donald Trump. I am convinced more every day, that he is the most dangerous president we have ever had.

RESIST, it is more important today that ever before.

26 Fascinating, But Useless Facts

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26 Fascinating, But Useless Facts

By D.S. Mitchell

 

1. Marilyn Monroe, the 1950-1960 sex goddess, had 6 toes on one of her feet. See. None of us are perfect.

2. Did you know a cockroach can live for up to nine days without a head, until it starves to death? Who knew?

3. An Ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

4. Women blink twice as often as men.

5, No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

6. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Thank God! Man and woman lived on this planet for 200,000 years before someone invented scissors. They seem so basic, so necessary. How did people live before scissors? Amazing.on so many levels.

7. Our noses and ears never stop growing, while our eyes remain the same size for life.

8. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

9. Whether protesting or electioneering, petitions can serve as important democratic tools, such as when  California governor, Gray Davis was recalled in 2003.  Arnold Schwarzenegger famous body builder and movie action hero took his place in Sacramento.

10. Some species of piranhas are vegetarians, while all butterflies are carnivores.

11. The most shoplifted book in America is the Bible. I wonder what that says about us as a society?

12. Rats can tread water for three days without stopping.

13. All the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction were stuck on 4:20.  I know what 4:20 means to me. I wonder if it means the same to Tarantino? Probably. Sit back, light up.

14. Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue.

15. There are 13 witches in a coven.

16. Abraham Lincoln’s first choice to lead the Union Army was Robert E. Lee.

17. “E” is the most used letter in the English alphabet. “Q” is the least used letter.

18. Fingernails grow 4 times faster than toenails.

19. November 15th is National Clean Your Refrigerator Day.

20. Cleopatra was Greek (Ptolemy), not Egyptian.

21. The colder your bedroom the higher the chance of having a nightmare.

22.  Cornelius Vanderbilt was born a farmer’s son who left school at age 11 and despite his lack of                education went on to become the richest man of 19th century America.

23. Oprah Winfrey, a black woman raised by her grandmother, sent to juvenile detention at 13, an unwed mother at 14. Oprah went on to TV stardom and stratospheric wealth in the 20th century.

24. The most common spoken word around the world is “O.K., ok, okay, or, k”  It can be heard from New York City to the tiniest rain forest village.

25. “Jiffy” is an actual unit of time. So when Mom says she’ll be there in a “jiffy” she really means in 1/100th of a second.

26. It takes six months to build a Rolls Royce……and 13 hours to build a Toyota.

Okay, there you go. 26 Tidbits of Fascinating and Useless Information. Use it as you will.

Take A Leap, Celebrating Leap Day

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Take a Leap, Celebrate Leap Day

By D. S. Mitchell and Joe DiBartolomeo

The First Leap Year

The first leap year originated in 46 B.C. when Julius Caesar learned from the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandra that the 355 day Roman calendar was about 10 1/4 days shorter than the solar calendar. Caesar took action and introduced the 365 day year Julian calendar, and added an intercalary day-Leap Day-every four years to cover the extra 1/4 day.

In Two Hundred Years

It wouldn’t be for another 200 years that astronomers would discover the calendar system was still about 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds short. No new changes would be made until 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII introduced a better method for calculating Leap Year. This method has become the system we use today, and it led to February 29th being designated as the standard Leap Day.

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Athletes Say The Damnedest Things

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Athletes Say The Damnedest Things

D. S. Mitchell

Sunday Mornings

Another lazy, Sunday morning at www.calamitypolitics.com No surprise, say you. I am officially declaring, ‘Layed Back Sunday’. It’s great sometimes, being the boss, even if it’s only me, Dave, Jane and our office support dog, Lily. Thinking about political theory, political science, political reality, political bullshit, on a daily basis tends to sour anyone’s personality. But, not TODAY!

Play Day

I’ve declared it an official ‘play day’. If you are a baseball, soccer, wrestling or football fan you are one of millions of fans, nationwide. Sports figures can be heroes, villains, martyrs and often, comedians. And some of them are damned funny. Intentionally, or unintentionally. Today, there will be no political discussion, there will be no analysis, there will be no relevant comment, other than to read what some well-known athletes have had to say about the state of things. So, here goes:

Athletes Say The Damnedest Things

Mike Tyson:  Responding to a question about his retirement plans:  “Fade into Bolivian, I guess.”     Joe Theismann: “The term genius is inapplicable to anyone in this game.  A genius is Norman Einstein.” Pedro Guerrero:  About his relationship with the press, “Sometimes they write what I say, not what I mean.”   Chuck Nevitt:  On why he appeared nervous:  “My sister is having a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an aunt or an uncle.”    Yogi Berra:  “It gets late early out here.”    George Foreman:  “There’s more to boxing than hitting.  There’s not getting hit, for instance.”   George Roberts:  “I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first.”   Tug McGraw:  “Always root for the winner.  That way you won’t be disappointed.”    Don King:  He (Chavez) speaks English, Spanish, and he’s bilingual.”    Dizzy Dean:  The doctor X-rayed my head and found nothing.    Bill Cowher:  On whether the Steelers bent NFL regulations: “We’re not attempting to circumcise the rules.”

Thanks again, Rod L. Evans, Ph.D. quotes taken from his book, Tyrannosaurus Lex.

Join the Resistance. Support 2020 Democratic candidates by volunteering your time and your money. Make your progressive voice heard. Don’t you dare sit home and complain. Get off your butt and get Democrats elected across the country.

25 Tidbits Of Useless Information

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By D.S. Mitchell

Poll Numbers

I am well aware that there is breaking news. As if Thursday June 20th, 2019 would be any different from yesterday, or any day last week.  Yesterday, the Iranians shot down a 130 million dollar American drone and Hope Hicks refused to talk to the House Judiciary Committee. Today as I wait for Trump to let us know what he is going to do about the drone attack I see a poll result from Gallop, or somebody, cross the television screen. Without surprise I see  that 57% of Americans believe we need a new president.  I hope Trump doesn’t think war will get his poll numbers up.

Some Distraction

In this age of craziness I think the world needs a bit of distraction. I love useless information and thought I would share some useless information with my readers today, instead of writing something topical and newsworthy. So, here goes.

25 tidbits of useless information:

1.) Did you know a cockroach can live for up to nine days without a head, until it starves to death? Who knew.

2.) An Ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. While we are on the subject of the Ostrich, did you know that Ostrich’s have only two toes on each foot?

3.) Marilyn Monroe, the 1950-1960 sex goddess, had 6 toes on one of her feet. See. None of us are perfect.

4.) Women blink twice as often as men do.

5.) No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

6.) Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Thank God! Man and woman lived on this planet for 200,000 years before someone invented scissors. They seem so basic, so necessary. How did people live without scissors? Amazing, on so many levels.

7.) Our noses and ears never stop growing, while our eyes remain the same size for life.

8.) A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

9.) Some species of piranhas are vegetarians, while all butterflies are carnivores.

10.) The most shoplifted book in America is the Bible. I wonder what that says about us as a society?

11.) Rats can tread water for three days without stopping.

12.) All the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction were stuck on 4:20.  I know what 420 means to me. I wonder if it means the same to Tarantino? Probably. Sit back, light up.

13.) Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue.

14.) There are 13 witches in a coven.

15.) Abraham Lincoln’s first choice to lead the Union Army was Robert E. Lee.

16,) “E” is the most used letter in the English alphabet. “Q” is the least used letter.

17.) Fingernails grow 4 times faster than toenails.

18.) November 15th is National Clean Your Refrigerator Day

19.) Cleopatra was Greek (Ptolemy), not Egyptian

20.) The colder your bedroom the higher the chance of having a nightmare.

21.)  Cornelius Vanderbilt was born a farmer’s son who left school at age 11 and despite his lack of education went on to become the richest man of 19th century America.

22.) Oprah Winfrey, a black woman raised by her grandmother, sent to juvenile detention at 13, an unwed mother at 14 (to a child who died). Oprah went on to TV stardom and stratospheric wealth in the 20th century.

23.) The most common spoken word around the world is “O.K., ok, okay, or, k”  It can be heard from New York City to the tiniest rain forest village.

24.) “Jiffy” is an actual unit of time. So when Mom says she’ll be there in a “jiffy” she really mean 1/100th of a second.

25.) It takes six months to build a Rolls Royce……and 13 hours to build a Toyota.

Okay, there you go. 25 Tidbits of Useless Information. Use it as you will.