In 1997 about 500 people in China were able to ski. Now in 2007, over 5 million Chinese will spend time on the slopes. Seems like middle class living has reached this ancient country.



If you are right handed, you will live a little longer than left handed people. I wonder what would happen if you were a natural lefty and tried to become right handed through practice. Perhaps a good subject for a health project or a science fair experiment.

The Bank of America was once called the Bank of Italy. Buon giorno you all.

If an ant gets inebriated, it will always fall to its right side. What I want to know is where does an ant get its booze.

Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of the blue whale. If an elephant gets stuck in a blue whale, just tell the whale to cough.

Birds do not sleep in their nests. They may occasionally nap in them, but they actually sleep in other places. I wonder where do the birds sleep if not in their nests.

The formula for cold cream has hardly changed at all in the 1,700 years since it was originally made by the Roman physician Galen. So why do some cold cream cost just a few dollars and other cost almost enough to buy a new Porsche.

Crocodiles and alligators are surprisingly fast on land. Although they are rapid, they are not agile; so if you ever find yourself chased by one, run in a zigzag line. If this doesn't work, the management is not responsible.

Irving Thalberg of MGM had the habit of making people wait outside his office for extended periods. He kept the Marx Brothers longer than they liked. When he finally got around to seeing them, they were stark naked outside his doorway, roasting potatoes in the lobby's fireplace. It was the last time he kept them waiting. After all, they are comedians.

In ancient China and certain parts of India, mouse meat was considered a great delicacy.

In ancient Greece, where the mouse was sacred to Apollo, mice were sometimes devoured by temple priests. Some of these priests were known as "mouse breath".

In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes. It goes to show you that by taking a healthy potato, frying it in fatty oil to help make it unhealthy, ruining the environment with tons of packaging material, and charging a small fortune for the result of this effort, you can make many Americans happy.

Half the foods eaten throughout the world today were developed by farmers in the Andes Mountains. Potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, squash, all varieties of beans, peanuts, papayas, strawberries, mulberries and many other foods were first grown in this region. I have to believe that the foods were unadulterated, pure and better for you in those olden days.

A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can. Next time I have to cross the Sahara desert, I will be certain to go by giraffe.

Blue whales weigh as much as 30 elephants and are as long as 3 Greyhound buses.

According to tests made at the Institute for the Study of Animal Problems in Washington, D.C., dogs and cats, like people, are either right-handed or left-handed --- that is, they favor either their right or left paws.

In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.

According to acupuncturists, there is a point on the head that you can press to control your appetite. It is located in the hollow just in front of the flap of the ear. (Try it!)

Tibetans, Mongolians, and people in parts of western China put salt in their tea instead of sugar.

In 1976 a Los Angeles secretary officially married a 50-pound rock. The ceremony was witnessed by more than 20 people.

There is approximately one chicken for every human being in the world.

The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words. More than 2 billion pencils are manufactured each year in the United States. If these were laid end to end they would circle the world nine times.

A rainbow can be seen only in the morning or late afternoon. It can occur only when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon.

In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained.

Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day. Ho hum.

Bees have 5 eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.

A sneeze can travel as fast as 100 miles per hour. Ride a sneeze to work. It will be faster than your car.

It is impossible to sneeze and keep one's eyes open at the same time.