Monday, April 23, 2012

Random Ramblings

Something interesting I’ve discovered this week is that some people keep capybaras and skunks as pet!?!

    -Hamster is German meaning “to horde”. Hamsters can hold half their body weight in their cheeks. They were discovered in the Syrian Desert and domesticated in the 1930’s and came to the US soon after.
     -Spanish conquistadors brought Guinea pigs to Europe in the 1600's and they quickly became popular as pets.
     -Sometimes ferrets are used to run cables and wires through pipes.
     -Mini donkeys can live up to 40 yrs!
     -The longest rabbit ears on record were 31”
     -Calvin Coolidge had six dogs, two raccoons, a donkey, a goose, a wallaby, two lion cubs, an antelope and a pygmy hippo during his presidency.
     -The U.S has only had six brown eyed presidents.
     -Herbert Hoover donated his entire presidential salary in charity.
     -James Garfield entertained friends by writing Latin with one hand and writing in Greek with the other.
     -George Washington’s presidential salary was $25,000; George W. Bush’s salary was $400,000. But today Washington’s salary would be worth $531,000.
     -The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords,  the Woolsack is a large, wool-stuffed cushion, covered with red cloth; it has neither a back or arms. The Lords' Mace is placed on the rear part of the Woolsack.
Introduced in the fourteenth century, the seat was originally a wool bale, which was a symbol of the nation's prosperity due to the importance of the wool trade.
The Lord Speaker may speak from the Woolsack when speaking in his or her capacity as Speaker of the House, but must, if he seeks to debate, deliver his remarks either from the left side of the Woolsack, or from the normal seats of the Lords.
        
  Quote of the Week:
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -Leonardo da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, and scientist (1452-1519)
Word of the Week:
Nihilism- 1. An extreme form of skepticism that denies that existence is real.
 2. A movement in the 19century Russia that scorned authority and believed in materialism and radical change in society through terrorism and assassination. 

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