Monday Fun Facts

This Monday brings us another session of fun, and probably useless facts to fill our brains up. Today we are going to have some more fun with little pieces of trivia to amaze your friends and frustrate your family. As you are aware, since Mondays are usually tough on all of us (the first day back to work after a way too short weekend) it is helpful to have something fun to read to forget the Monday blues. Welcome to Monday Fun Facts.

How many of you have looked at statues in the park? How many of you even know that there are statues in many parks? Well, for those of you with inquiring minds, you may have noticed that some statues have men on horses. In the older parks, especially on the East Coast, there are many statues dedicated to the brave men who fought for our freedoms. I had always seen some of these statues with the horses rearing, or the horses just standing still. I thought it was artistic license as to how the horse was portrayed, I did not realize that there was a meaning behind how the horses were presented. If the 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 a natural cause.

For more landmark fun, did you know that the Boston University Bridge is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane? Wow, took me a few minutes to visualize that...

This piece of trivia I picked up while traveling the country last year. Did you know that the Eisenhower Interstate system requires that only one mile in every five miles must be straight? These straight sections of the interstate are usable as airstrips in times of war or for other emergencies. I had never really noticed how many miles of straight highway I was driving versus how many curves there were in the road. I can tell you that after learning this tidbit, I have paid more attention to how many and how long the straight sections of the highway are. It effectively keeps me aware of what I am doing and where I am driving. No more highway hypnosis for me...

Did you ever wonder why New York City drops a big ball in Times Square every New Year's Eve? Time balls, which were large metal gloves in the Victorian Era, were placed up on tall structures in cities and would drop and rise again at noon so people could set their watches by them. Wow, I just thought that huge ball in Times Square was only for New Year's Eve celebrations.

For another time-related bit of trivia, did you ever notice on analog watches that they always are set to 10:10? The watch makers do this because then the arms frame the brand of the watch and make it look like the watch is smiling. Nothing like a little subliminal marketing here...

More marketing "oops" - Colgate faced big obstacles marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries because the word "Colgate" translates into the command "go hang yourself". When the Nova car was manufactured, they had to change the model name when marketing it in Mexico. Nova, can be roughly translated to "no go"...who would want a model of car that already states it won't go?

It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million dollars to make a film about it. What is wrong with this picture?

Hopefully these little pieces of trivia brightened your day.

Until tomorrow...