Did You Know?

The Akita is a large spitz breed of dog originating from the mountainous northern regions of Japan. There are now two separate strains: American, a/k/a "Akita" or "American Akita"; and Japanese, aka "Akita Inu" or "Japanese Akita". The American strain comes in all dog colors; however, the Japanese strain comes in selected colors only, with all other colors considered untypical of the breed. The Akita has a short double coat, similar to that of many other northern Spitz breed. The Akita today is a unique combination of dignity, courage, alertness, and devotion to its family. It is extraordinarily affectionate and loyal with family and friends, territorial about its property, and can be reserved with strangers. It is feline in its actions; it is not unusual for an Akita to clean its face after eating, to preen its kennel mate, and to be fastidious in the house. They are however known to be intolerant of other dogs of the same gender, as stated ...

The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400. A duck's quack doesn't echo and no one knows why. A Native American tribe in South Dakota collects bottle caps left by campers, using them as currency. Several banks in the area now recognize the caps as legal tender. The MGM Grand Hotel of Las Vegas washes 15,000 pillowcases per day! Polar bears are left-handed. No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH". A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. 80% of your brain is made up of water. Over 1,000 birds die every year from smashing into windows.

The statue was built from copper sheets mounted onto a steel framework. Work on the statue began in France in 1875 and was completed in 1884. The statue had to be dismantled before being shipped to New York in 1885. Each of the 1350 iron bars were replaced by stainless-steel bars because the iron bars were all severely corroded. Statue of Liberty stamps that have been minted were: 15 cent stamp issued on November 11, 1922; 3 cent stamp issued on June 24, 1954; 8 cent stamp issued on April 9, 1954; and 11 cent stamp issued on June 11, 1961. Liberty Island was known as Bedloe's Island till 1956. Liberty island was closed to the public from September 11, 2001 and reopened in December the same year. There are seven rays on Liberty's crown, symbolizing the seven seas and seven continents. Miss Liberty holds a tablet in her left hand that reads "July 4, 1776" (in Roman numerals). There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal and 25 viewing windows...

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs were written by E.Y. Harburg, the music by Harold Arlen. Incidental music, based largely on the songs, was by Herbert Stothart, with borrowings from classical composers. Fun Facts: As a child, author L. Frank Baum had a recurring dream where he was being chased by a scarecrow. Judy Garland's ruby slippers are among the most valuable movie memorabilia. Five pairs are known to exist. One pair sold for $666,000 at an auction in 2000. When the movie script was being adapted from the book, the role of the Wizard was written with W.C. Fields in mind for the part.  The film rights to L. Frank Baum's book were purchased by MGM for $75,000, a very large sum at ...

Today, Dylan’s primary residence is in Malibu, CA, but he owns several properties around the world. Bob received a D-plus in a music-appreciation class at the University of Minnesota.  Bob Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota on May 24, 1941. Bob's real name is Robert Zimmerman. He began introducing himself as “Bob Dylan” during his Dinkytown days. Between the ages of 10 and 18 Dylan ran away from home seven times. Borrowed lines from a Japanese book "Confessions of a Yakuza" for lyrics in the songs of his album "Love and Theft" - the author was apparently flattered by this. He turned down an offer to headline the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969 (Jimi Hendrix ultimately headlined), even though he had been living on a farm in Woodstock for many years at that point. His favorite movie is Shoot the Piano Player (1960) by François Truffaut. He was voted the seventh greatest singer of the rock era in a Rolling Stone magazine poll in 2008. ...

World War II (September 1, 1939-September 2, 1945) was the largest, most destructive, and most widespread war in history. As a result of World War II more than 50 million people died and hundreds of millions were wounded, physically and psychologically.  Most of the German soldiers who died in World War Two died on the Eastern front. The top American ace of all time was Richard Ira Bong. He shot down 40 Japanese planes in the Pacific. Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents. For each man killed on battle, four others were wounded. The National Socialist Party was originally called the ‘Nasos’ and not the Nazis. From 1939 till the end of the war, the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bomb, mostly in industrial German cities. During World War II the government appointed a Minister of Food. His job was to sell the benefits of rationing to the public and educate people into better eating habits. Recommended Reading: Amaz...

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy, Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln helped begin the Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln was born to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, on February 12, 1809. They were both uneducated farmers. Lincoln was 6’4”, making him our country’s tallest president.   Lincoln was the first president to be photographed at his inauguration. Standing close to Lincoln in the photo is his future assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln's ancestry is mapped down to Samuel Lincoln. Samuel had come to Massachusetts in the 17th century, from England. He had no middle name. He created a national banking system with the National Banking Act in 1863, resulting in a standardized currency. Lincoln was fond of pets, and owned horses, cats, dogs and a turkey. He was the first president to have a beard.  Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address made at the end of the Civil War is one of the most oft repeated speeches throughout history.

The chances that a tornado is a F5, the highest classification for a tornado on the F-scale, is less than 0.1%. A Tornado can occur at any time, but most often between 3pm and 9pm. Funnel clouds usually last less than 10 minutes before dissipating with many only lasting several seconds. On rare occasions, cyclones can last for over an hour as many were reported to have done in the early 1900's. Rotating thunderstorms called mesocyclones (or supercells) are the best predictors of tornado activity. Mesocyclones are well defined thunderstorms on radar that may include hail, severe winds, lightning and flash floods. Texas gets hit with the most tornados every year. They average about  125 tornadoes every year. Oklahoma comes in next with about 57 tornadoes per year, with Kansas and Florida following close behind with 55 each. Florida of course is much smaller, and therefore has more twisters per square mile than anywhere else. In terms of absolute tornado counts, the ...

The biggest breed of domesticated cats are called a Maine Coon cat and weighs up to 11 kg. Cats are some of the smartest animals and can interpret a human's mood and feelings. The average cat sleeps between 12-14 hours a day. Cats have 220° field of view where humans only have 180°. Cats' sense of smell is 14 times stronger than that of humans. A litter of kittens is called a kindle, and a group of cats is called a clowder. A cat lover is called an ailurophile. The only "natural" breed of domestic cat in America is the Main Coon. A cat's IQ is only surpassed by that of monkeys and chimps in the world of animals. Cats are the only animals that purr. They can purr at around 26 cycles per second, which is the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.