Did you know?

The name of the popular sports drink Gatorade was named for the University of Florida Gators where it was developed.

Close to 50% of the water used in a home originates from the bathroom.

At Disneyland Paris, the Park's famous Sleeping Beauty Castle is known as Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant.

July 6 is International Cherry Pit Spitting Day.

A stateroom in a large European mansion was usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed to impress. They were the most lavishly decorated in the house and contained the finest works of art. On board a ship, the term state room defines a superior first-class cabin.

James Cook was the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle in 1773.

Marquis d'Arlandes and Pilatre de Rozier were the first humans to fly. They were airborne in a hot-air balloon for twenty minutes in Paris, on Nov. 21, 1783.

July is National Anti-Boredom month

In 1905, eleven-year old Frank Epperson invented the popsicle. According to the Popsicle company, one cold evening Frank left a mixture of powder flavored soda water with a stir stick in it on the porch. Because of the cold weather outside, he awoke to a frozen treat on a stick.

The word "rhinoceros" comes from the Greek "rhino"(nose) and "ceros" (horn). There are five species and 11 subspecies of rhino; some have two horns while others have one. Rhino horns tend to curve backward, toward the head, because the keratin in front grows faster than the keratin in the back. The largest rhino species is the white rhino which grows 12 to 13 feet long and 6 feet from hoof to shoulder and weighs around 5,000 pounds. The smallest rhino is the Sumatran rhino. It grows 8 to 10 feet long, up to 4.8 feet from hoof to shoulder and weighs around 1,765 pounds.

July 15 is Be a Dork Day.

There's enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to build a two-lane highway from Seattle Washington to Miami Florida or a 4 ft. wide sidewalk around the equator of the earth.

Colorado voters were asked to host the 1976 winter Olympics, but turned them down. They were not willing to deal with cost (pollution and unwarranted growth).

The Library of Congress contains approximately 838 miles of shelving which houses 155 million items and 33 million that were written in 460 different languages.

July 27 is Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day.

The word "athlete" comes originally from a Greek verb meaning "to compete for a prize." The Welsh athlete Griffith Morgan ran twelve miles in fifty three minutes in 1732. He won a prize of 200 sovereigns but fell and died when slapped on the back in congratulations.

The order of numbers round a dartboard was an invention of Brian Gamlin, a carpenter from Bury, Lancashire, who came up with the design in 1896 to minimize the role of luck in darts as a fairground game.

The flatulence of a single sheep could ;power a small truck for twenty-five miles a day according to New Zealand scientist Dr. D Lowe. Harnessing the methane output of seventy-two million sheep could solve the nation's fuel problems. The belches of ten cows are enough to heat a small house.

Sources: www.holidayinsights.com; www.alltirvia.net; www.en.wikiupedia.org; www.corsinet.com; www.ifoundouttoday.com; www.livescience.com; www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam; www.culturecheatsheet.com; ww.loc.gov; Encyclopedia of Useless Information by William Hartston