Did you know?

April is National Humor Month

April 3 is Don't Go to Work Unless it's Fun Day.

Hungarian brothers George and L"szlo Biro invented the ball point pen in 1938.

In 1991 Proctor & Gamble won a $75,000 lawsuit against James and Linda Newton who were found responsible for spreading rumors that the company supported the Church of Satan. The two were distributors of Amway products, a competitor of Proctor & Gamble.

Laser stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." Developed 1950's-1960"s.

Coca-Cola was so named back in 1885 for its two 'medicinal' ingredients; extract of coca leaves and kola nuts. As for how much cocaine was originally in the formulation, it's hard to know. .

April 12 is National Licorice Day.

Depending on the water temperature, oysters can change their sex.

Coprastastaphobia is the fear of constipation.

The American Indians invented popcorn.

April 18 is Newspaper Columnists Day.

The longest beard was that of the Norwegian Hans Langseth- it stretched 17 ft. 6 in.when measured on his death in Kensett, Iowa in 1927. The beard was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. in 1967.

The modern semicolon first appeared in 1494 in the first edition of Pietro Mombo's De Aetna. Similar punctuation marks had been used by Romans, but the convention of using them to signify something stronger than a comma, but less than a full stop was the idea of printer Aldus Manutius the Eldfer (1450-1515) and Francesco Griffi, his punch printer. Griffi went on to develop the first italic type in 1500.

The original and ancient Chinese and Egyptian umbrellas protected against the sun, but not the rain, while in ancient Egypt , an umbrella was a sign of rank. Jonas Hanway is said to have introduced umbrellas into England in the 1750's , but they were generally only used by women until the mid-nineteenth century.

Sources: holidayinsights.com; www.triviacountry.com; www.corsinet.com; Encyclopedia of useless information by Willam Hartston