Quote
"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
Mark Twain
Joke
My wife told me I had to stop acting like a flamingo. So I had to put my foot down!
Fun Fact
All the ants on Earth weigh about as much as all the humans.
The total population of people who are alive on Earth hasn't even hit 8 billion. At the same time, there are 10 quadrillion (10,000,000,000,000,000) individual ants crawling around at any given time. According to wildlife presenter Chris Packham, who appeared on the BBC, when combined, all of those ants would weigh about the same as all of us humans.
However, Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at the University of Sussex, disagrees. He says that while this fact may have been true in the past, these days "we must also remember that humans are getting fatter all the time. We're not just increasing in population, we're increasing in fatness, so I think we've left the ants behind."
History Fact
The Circus Maximum in Rome is still the largest capacity sports arena ever built.
It was used for the execution of prisoners like Christian and Jewish people, part of the Roman Triumph, along with chariot racing.
Historians believe the Circus Maximum could hold between 150,000 – 250,000 people at any given time.
This means that it could hold more spectators than the Rungrado May Day Stadium in North Korea – the world’s largest capacity stadium – which can hold roughly 114,000 people.
Movie/TV Trivia
JoBeth Williams had to swim through a pool of real dead bodies in Poltergeist
Remember that terrifying scene in Poltergeist where JoBeth Williams has to swim through a pool of bones and skulls? Well they weren’t movie props – they were actual dead bodies. Grim! Apparently real human remains were used because they were cheaper than plastic skeletons – who knew?!
Unfortunately, some fans of the movie believe that the director’s decision to use real dead bodies led to the Poltergeist ‘curse’ behind the scenes…
A bizarre number of actors associated with the movie have been murdered or passed away in the wake of its release – Heather O’Rourke died at the age of 12 years old after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Dominique Dunne was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend only five months after the film hit cinemas.
And finally, Lou Perryman (aka Pugsley) was murdered with an axe in his own home in 2009.
Many fans believe the film’s use of real dead bodies sparked the curse in the first place…
Movie/TV Quote
“Houston, we have a problem.”
Apollo 13, 1995
Conversation Starter
What cartoons did you watch as a child?
Writing Prompt