No. 425 - TIDBITS TO "DAZZLE" YOUR FRIENDS

No. 425
Jim Davidson·NEWSPAPER COLUMN

TIDBITS TO "DAZZLE" YOUR FRIENDS

Did you know that a shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes? Did you also know that peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite? If you have ever found yourself in a position where you needed a conversation starter, Boy! ---Do I have some good news for you? However, you may be like the Îolâ boyâ who said, ãLook, what I need is not a conversation starter, what I need is a conversation stopper.ä A while back a friend sent me a whole list of things or tidbits of information that were interesting and I feel sure there were many things on the list that you do not know. If you do, you are sure ahead of me. I might add that our ability to communicate will go a long way in determining our success or failure.

To know or be reminded of these tidbits is not going to have a direct or immediate impact on your life. Like the acquisition of any knowledge, the key is to have it in reserve or stored in our mind and then pull it out when the need arises. Here we go. 1. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. 2. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. 3. A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue. 4. Al Caponeâs business card said he was a used furniture dealer. 5. A snail can sleep for three years. 6. All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of a $5 bill.

7. ãDreamtä is the only English word that ends in the letters ãmt.ä 8. In the last 4000 years no new animals have been domesticated. 9. ãStewardessesä is the longest word typed with only the left hand; ãlollipopä with your right. 10. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. 11. Butterflies taste with their feet. 12. An ostrichâs eye is bigger than its brain. 13. Winston Churchill was born in a ladiesâ room during a dance. 14. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it would digest itself. 15. There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: ãabstemiousä and ãfacetious.ä

16. There are more chickens than people in the world. 17. The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid. 18. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. 19. The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns. 20. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. 21. Women blink nearly twice as much as men. 22. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. 23. The sentence: ãThe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogä uses every letter of the alphabet.

24. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. 25. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours. 26. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. 26. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon. 27. Almonds are a member of the peach family. 28. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. 29. The average personâs left hand does 56% of the typing. 30. The Bible does not say there were three wise men; it only says there were three gifts. 31. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

32. A ãjiffyä is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. 33. Babies are born without kneecaps. They donât appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age. 34. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. 35. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. 36. On a Canadian two-dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag. 37. If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction. 38. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

39. If you are an average American, in your whole life you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights. 40. There are only four words in the English language, which end in ãdousä: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. 41. This last one is one of those mind teasers. The words Îracecar,â Îkayakâ and Îlevelâ are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

Now, I believe you will agree, thatâs quite a list of tidbits. Like I said earlier, knowing these things is not going to have an immediate impact on your life, unless of course you are a contestant on a game show and one of these tidbits is the correct answer to a question that means several thousand dollars in your pocket. We should always stay alert and strive to learn new things. It is really distressing for me to see people never experience the joy of learning and who never use that marvelous mind that God has given to each one of us. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)