History

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from

history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great;

Hearts - Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

The Battle of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson's U.S. forces

routed "the bloody british", was fought on Janurary 8, 1815, two

weeks after the War of 1812 was officially ended by the signing

of the Treaty of Ghent.

About 3000 years ago most Egyptians died before the age of 30.

The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player

who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want

the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled

around him.

In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down

but only 6 people were injured.

The first song played on Armed Forces Radio during operation

Desert Shield was "Rock the Casba" by the Clash.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front

legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has

one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds

received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the

ground, the person died of natural causes.

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July

4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on

August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years

later.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for

the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate-covered garlic

balls every morning. Her doctor suggested this to improve her

memory.

Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in

Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at

5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and

day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have

gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that

*this* was the day of the changeover.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World

War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked every hair from their bodies,

including  their eyebrows and eyelashes.

The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by

Egyptians in 2000 B.C.

The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is

from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was,

"No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way

to be disqualified is to poke someone's eye out.

Only President to remain a bachelor: James Buchanon

Only first lady to carry a loaded revolver: Eleanor Roosevelt

Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for "Profiles

in Courage".

It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the

King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the

46th word from the first word is 'shake' and the 46th word from

the last word is 'spear'.

Only President awarded a patent: Abe Lincoln, for a system of

buoying vessels over shoals .

Back in the mid to late 80's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't

considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run

Microsoft's Flight Simulator.

In AngloSaxon times a man could divorce his wife on the grounds

that she was too passionate.

America once issued a 5¢ bill.

Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when

they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern

military salute.

Theodore Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to deliver an

inaugural address without using the word "I".  Abraham Lincoln,

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower tied for second

place, using "I" only once in their inaugural addresses.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a

full moon.

The condom - made originally of linen - was invented in the early

1500s.

America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3

men.

In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa

completely out of toast.

In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows.

The term skyscraper was first used way back in 1888 to describe

an 11-story building.

The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross.

Life in the 1500s

After reading this, do you really want to go back to the "good

old days"?

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly

bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However,

they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of

flowers to hide the odor.

Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the

house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the

other men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all

the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually

lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out

with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood

underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all

the pets - dogs, cats - and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs

lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and

sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the

saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.

This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other

droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they

found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the

top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big

four-poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than

dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors

which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread

thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter

wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the

door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was

placed at the entry way, hence a "threshhold."

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over

the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the

pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They

would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to

get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes

the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month.

Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas

porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special

when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out

some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth

and that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a

little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew

the fat." (Does this mean they were living "high on the hog"?)

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid

content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This

happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating

tomatoes - for 400 years.

Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a

piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers

were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood.

After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt

bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the

top, or the "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination

would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone

walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them

for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple

of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and

wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding

a "wake."

England is old and small and they started running out of places

to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take

their bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these

coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks

on the inside and they realized they had been burying people

alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist

and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie

it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard

all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard

shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or

he was a "dead ringer."