[Lady Sidhe]

"Fortnight" is a contraction of "fourteen nights." In the
US "two weeks" is more commonly used.


A bathometer is an instrument for indicating the depth of
the sea beneath a moving vessel.


A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.


The highest temperature ever recorded in the world was
136.4 degrees Fahrenheit at El Azizia, Lybia, on
September 13, 1922.


The lowest temperature ever recorded in the world was
129 degrees below 0 at Vostok, Antarctica, on
July 21, 1983.


Every century has its famous firsts, those
notable things that first happened in that century. Well,
even though the 21st century just begun, it has been the
century of some famous firsts, including:

Colin Powell
2000 --- 1st black secretary of state.

Halle Berry
2002 --- 1st black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress.

Steve Fossett
2002 --- 1st balloonist to fly solo around the world when he
landed in Australia on 4th July 2002.

Gene Robinson
2003 --- 1st openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church in US.


Abraham Lincoln, who invented a hydraulic device for
lifting ships over shoals, was the only US president ever
granted a patent.



According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until
the 1730's, India was the only source for diamonds in the
world.



Antarctica is the only continent without reptiles or snakes.


Baskin Robbins once made ketchup ice cream. This was the
only vegetable flavored ice cream produced.


Gerald Ford was the only US president not to have been
elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency.



The first modern Olympiad was held in Athens in 1896.
484 contestants from 13 nations participated.



The first-known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by
Egyptians in 2000 BC.


The House of Lancaster, symbolized by the red rose, won
England's 'War of the Roses.'

The longest reigning monarch in history was Pepi II, who
ruled Egypt for 90 years; 2566 to 2476 BC. The second
longest was France's Louis XIV, who ruled for 72 years,
1643 to 1715.



The Miss America Contest was created in Atlantic City in
1921 with the purpose of extending the tourist season
beyond Labor Day.


The only repealed amendment to the US Constitution deals
with the prohibition of alcohol.