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Last minute travel? Which website is the absolute BEST place to get great last minute travel deals/packages (from Dayton/Columbus/Cincinnati/Indianapolis)??

What is the best website (OR membership) for last-minute travel Specials for Hotels and/or Rental Cars only? What is the best website for last-minute travel Specials for Hotels and/or Rental Cars only? (I am not looking for package deals!) Or as an alternative, What is the best membership card program- ie- AAA, etc that offer good discounts at hotels?

Why aren't there many good packaged travel deals from Houston to Europe at a good price?? I mena seriously, when I look online for Travel Deals or Last Minute travel they all seem to leave from JFK, Chicago, Miami, or LAX. Is IAH in Houston not one of the largest International Airports in America?? Travel companies needs ot start catering. All I see are trips to Mexico and you can only go to Mexico so many times. Does anyone know of any websites that cater to Texans (or surrounding states) with packaged travel deals when traveling Abroad???

What's the best site to find last minute plane tix? I am trying to find cheap plane tickets for either next weekend or the weekend after next from either of these aiports: SFO, OAK, SJC and I'm travelling to STL I am looking for either a package deal (with hotel) or just the plane ticket for under $400. If anyone can reccommend a good site that would be very helpful. Thanks!

Can anyone recommend anything off the beatern track at Alanya, Turkey? I usually holiday somewhere remote or where I can "mix" with the local people/food/language, we've booked this last minute "package" deal and while i know we're going to be in the centre of tourist-ville, I'd really like some tips about where to go to get "out of it" and see Turkey without travelling miles. Any tips? We'll hire a scooter and I'll be dragging my bloke to the archaeological sites. I'm an artist and photographer, so any tips on where to go for inspiration would be brilliant too. Many thanks, guys.

lastminute . com? I am planning to book a holiday package from last minute but if in case i wont be able to travel, can i cancel my holiday package and get money back?

economics question plssss help me :'(? Demand, supply and market price - A holiday tour operator, such as Thomson Holidays, will be offering holidays to tourists from the UK to a great variety of resorts and hotels, apartments etc. The range of holidays they each offer is contained in the company’s brochure obtainable from a travel agent. There are a number of such tour operators offering similar packages to UK tourists. - Use demand and supply analysis to examine the factors that will determine the brochure price of a holiday in Cyprus to tourists from the UK. How will the price of a holiday in any year be affected by shifts in demand and supply and explain what might cause such shifts? Holiday Bargains Each year package tour operators offer some cut price holidays through travel agents as ‘ last minute bargain These holidays will be offered at a discount on the price of the same holiday in the original brochure. The original brochure price will reflect the cost and expected demand for holidays in that year. Use demand and supply analysis to explain the rationale for these ‘last minute bargains’.

cheap international flights - where do i search? Which are the links i go to to find cheap international travel ? i mean - bucket fares ( whatever they are ) - cheap fars booked in advance - last minute deals - schemes and packages given by airlines or countries from time to time ( for ex - , i got a travellers pass from SA airways ten years back, a sri lankan fight plus hotel pacage 5 years back, a malaysian airline 3 stop deal 2 years back.......) any one shop website hosting links to all these deals ? - anything else ?

Trip to China cheated by Ming Ming Travel Service?

A few more questions about Italy.....? In March my mother and I are going to Rome. That's a long way away, but since I'm so excited I'm looking into everything now...and, I don't want to be stuck planning everything last minute. So, here are my questions.... 1) I've been looking at a town called Assisi. It doesn't seem to be that far from Rome. If we wanted to take a day trip there (to experience the Italian countryside), how would we go about doing that? It looks like such a beautiful town (though, all of Italy is beautiful) and I would really love to see it....so, any advice you have about that is appreciated. 2) I looked into renting a villa, but the package we're getting with hotel + flight is much cheaper. What is the best way to get from the air port to the hotel? A cab I'm assuming...but, I've read in travel brochures and things online (which seem determined to scare you into not going) that there are a lot of fake cabs around...that, they'll put your luggage in the trunk and take off before you can even get in the back seat. Or, charge for more than what is appropriate. I'm thinking that we'll tell them where we're going before hand and settle on how much it will cost before we even go (though, I don't want to sound rude!) and one of us (either my mother or I) will be sitting in the cab while the other helps the driver with the luggage....is that being too paranoid? From the sound of these magazines and papers I've read, things like this happens...though, I'm not saying just in Italy (don't get me wrong), but in any big city I assume. 4) What are some foods we should be sure to try? We can't eat out a lot (we're on a budget), so when we do we would like to have something spectacular...though, I'm sure most of it is. I know that real Italian food is nothing like the Italian food we have in America. A friend has told me that while we pay more attention to bulk (such as on a pizza...it's very thick usually and has a lot of toppings), Italians pay more attention to spices and such. So, any direction you can give me on what to eat is helpful...though, I think while there I'll want to try everything....lol, I'll have to resist. 3) Do you have any general advice? I know about the dress codes for churches and stuff like that, I'm aware of pick pockets and scams and all the obvious stuff. Anything else that most people don't seem to be aware of? I'm very excited to see Italy...I've wanted to go for years now. Thank you for the help! oops, I just noticed question 4 came before question 3. lol, oops....

Traveling websites? Nice places to go? ok, im living in bahrain, i wanna book a last minute holiday for me n my family, when i search all these packages are from the UK.. i wish i was still there :'( anyhow, i wanna see if anyone knows of any websites that i can book from bahrain to different places ( i dunno where, i wanna see packages!! ) or any nice places to go ? any ideas ?

Confessions of a Travel Agent ??? I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat on the airplane so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. I got a call from a Candidate's Staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information. He interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts." Without trying to make him look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, "Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa." His response ...(click). ?? A Senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map, and Florida is a very thin state!!!" I got a call from a Lawmakers Wife who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada?" I said, "No." She said, "But they look so close on the map." An Aide for a Bush cabinet member once called and asked if they could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed they only had a 1-hour lay-over in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, "I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between the gates to save time." An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that! A New York lawmaker called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know who's luggage belongs to who? " I said, "No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight, I think that is very rude!" After putting her on hold for a minute while I "looked into it" (I was actually laughing) I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, CA is (FAT), and that the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage. A Senator called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, FL. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?" I asked if he meant fly to Pensacola, FL on a commuter plane. He said, "Yeah, whatever!!" A Senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. "Oh no I don't, I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those." I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!" A New Mexico Congressman called to make reservations, "I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York" The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the agent: "Are you sure that's the name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the man. After some searching, the agent came back with, "I'm sorry, sir, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere." The man retorted, "Oh don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!" The agent scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, "You don't mean Buffalo, do you?" "That's it! I knew it was a big animal"???? Now you know why the government is in the shape that it's in!

Let this Brain Teaser Mess Your Head Up Like Crazy? Dilly Deliveries has a new peculiar route. The driver has to deliver packages to 8 places shown below. He does not need to visit them in logical order. Green Grocer - Troys Toys - Tourist Travel - Myers Tires Melodys Music - Hanks Bank - Peters Pets - Reta Restaurant North is up west is right east is left is weast and south is down Instead, the driver is to follow the directions listed here. Number the businesses above in order in which they should be visited. Find the number of packages to be delivered. 1. the second delivery is directly north of the first delivery and has one fewer package than the first. 2. Melody music needs all five packages deliveredd by 11:00 AM 3. By the time the paper work is completed, the packages verified, and greetings exchanged between driver and the recipient, each delivery takes 15 minutes. 4. the bank is never the last delivery. it always receives 4 packages. 5. troys toys has the most packages of all. His delivery will contain as many packages as all others combined. 6. Pete’s deliveries are live animals which need to be unloaded first when the store opens at 9:30 AM. 7. The fourth delivery is directly east of the first delivery and contains twice the number of packages. 8. The travel agency and the pet store combined are to receive the same number of packages as the music store. 9. The fifth delivery contains three boxes. 10. The third delivery is two stores west of the second. 11. The tire store, the grocer, and pet store will all have the same number of packages. They are the only ones with the same amount. imagine the places i listed where he has to go as ho it actually is, so melody music is west to hanks bank, myer tires is east of tourist travel and so on

I bet You Will Never Figure thid Brain Teaser Out? Dilly Deliveries has a new peculiar route. The driver has to deliver packages to 8 places shown below. He does not need to visit them in logical order. Below this is how the buildings are actual are. The green grocer then troys toys etc on the top street. The street below is melodys music then hanks bank, etc Green Grocer - Troys Toys - Tourist Travel - Myers Tires Melodys Music - Hanks Bank - Peters Pets - Reta Restaurant North is up west is right east is left is weast and south is down Instead, the driver is to follow the directions listed here. Number the businesses above in order in which they should be visited. Find the number of packages to be delivered. 1. the second delivery is directly north of the first delivery and has one fewer package than the first. 2. Melody music needs all five packages deliveredd by 11:00 AM 3. By the time the paper work is completed, the packages verified, and greetings exchanged between driver and the recipient, each delivery takes 15 minutes. 4. the bank is never the last delivery. it always receives 4 packages. 5. troys toys has the most packages of all. His delivery will contain as many packages as all others combined. 6. Pete’s deliveries are live animals which need to be unloaded first when the store opens at 9:30 AM. 7. The fourth delivery is directly east of the first delivery and contains twice the number of packages. 8. The travel agency and the pet store combined are to receive the same number of packages as the music store. 9. The fifth delivery contains three boxes. 10. The third delivery is two stores west of the second. 11. The tire store, the grocer, and pet store will all have the same number of packages. They are the only ones with the same amount. north=up west=left east=right south=down so ignorethe direction i gave before and use the ones i justed added

Anyone seen these facts? Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33. The dollar symbol ($) is a U combined with an S (U.S.) Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. The Statue of Liberty's tablet is two feet thick. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States. The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is 'Live Free or Die'. These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord. The straw was probably invented by Egyptian brewers to taste in-process beer without removing the fermenting ingredients which floated on the top of the container. David Prowse, was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie. The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY There are only thirteen blimps in the world. Nine of the thirteen blimps are in the United States. The existing biggest blimp is the Fuji Film blimp. Naugahyde, plastic "leather" was created in Naugatuck, Connecticut. The Swiss flag is square. The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius). The three largest land-owners in England are the Queen, the Church of England and Trinity College, Cambridge. The monastic hours are matins, lauds, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers and compline. If you come from Manchester, you are a Mancunian. No animal, once frozen solid (i.e., water solidifies and turns to ice) survives when thawed, because the ice crystals formed inside cells would break open the cell membranes. However there are certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. These frogs make special proteins which prevent the formation of ice (or at least keep the crystals from becoming very large), so that they actually never freeze even though their body temperature is below zero Celsius. The water in them remains liquid: a phenomenon known as 'supercooling.' If you disturb one of these frogs (just touching them even), the water in them quickly freezes solid and they die. The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula. Madrid is the only European capital city not situated on a river. The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite. The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane. Emus cannot walk backwards. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear. The shopping mall in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada has the largest water clock in North America. Both writer Edgar Allen Poe and LSD advocate Timothy Leary were kicked out of West Point. The word posh, which denotes luxurious rooms or accomodations, originated when ticket agents in England marked the tickets of travelers going by ship to the Orient. Since there was no air conditioning in those days, it was always better to have a cabin on the shady side of the ship as it passed through the Mediterranean and Suez area. Since the sun is in the south, those with money paid extra to get cabin's on the left, or port, traveling to the Asia, and on the right, or starboard, when returning to Europe. Hence their tickets were marked with the initials for Port Outbound Starboard Homebound, or POSH. The top layer of a wedding cake, known as the groom's cake, traditionally is a fruit cake. That way it will save until the first anniversery. The German Kaiser Wilhelm II had a withered arm and often hid the fact by posing with his hand resting on a sword, or by holding gloves. The forward pass was created by the football team at Saint Louis University. In every show that Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks) wrote, there is at least one song about rain. A kind of tortoise in the Galapagos Islands has an upturned shell at its neck so it can reach its head up to eat cactus branches. The only city whose name can be spelled completely with vowels is Aiea, Hawaii, located approximately twelve miles west of Honolulu. Parthenogenesis is the term used to describe the process by which certain animals are able to reproduce themselves in successive female generations without intervention of a male of the species. At least one species of lizard is known to do so. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten. The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat", which means "the king is dead". The ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, should always be written as QE2. QEII is the actual queen. "Quisling" is the only word in the English language to start with "quis." All of the cobble stones that used to line the streets in New York were originally weighting stones put in the hulls of Belgian ships to keep an even keel. Nepal is the only country without a rectangular flag (it looks like two pennants glued on on top of the other) Libya has the only flag which is all one color with no writing or decoration on it The only borough of New York City that isn't an island (or part of an island) is the Bronx. The 1957 Milwaukee Braves were the first baseball team to win the World Series after being relocated. The tune for the "A-B-C" song is the same as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." When a coffee seed is planted, it takes five years to yield it's first consumable fruit. The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet light. Linn's Stamp News is the world's largest weekly newspaper for stamp collectors. Tennessee is bordered by more states than any other. The eight states are Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Des Moines has the highest per capita Jello consumption in the U.S The Western-most point in the contiguous United States is Cape Alava, Washington. There are only three animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear, the Chow Chow dog and the blue-tongued lizard. The first fossilized specimen of Austalopithecus afarenisis was named Lucy after the palentologists' favorite song, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, by the Beatles. Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head." The geographical center of North America is near Rugby, North Dakota. The infinity sign is called a lemniscate. Hacky-sack was invented in Turkey. If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long. There are six five words in the English language with the letter combination "uu." Muumuu, vacuum, continuum, duumvirate and duumvir, residuum. The "Calabash" pipe, most often associated with Sherlock Holmes, was not used by him until William Gillette (an American) portrayed Holmes onstage. Gillette needed a pipe he could keep in his mouth while he spoke his lines. Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F. Dirty Harry's badge number is 2211. The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular. The shortest French word with all five vowels is "oiseau" meaning bird. Camel's milk does not curdle. "Mr. Mojo Risin" is an anagram for Jim Morrison. The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck. A person from the country of Nauru is called a Nauruan; this is the only palindromic nationality. The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate, demodulate." Oliver Cromwell was hanged and decapitated two years after he had died. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated. Iowa has more independent telephone companies than any other state. Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time. Hamsters love to eat crickets. The only "real" food that U.S. Astronauts are allowed to take into space is pecan nuts. The word "queueing" is the only English word with five consecutive vowels. The first Eagle Scout west of the Mississippi is buried in San Marcos, Texas. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere. Roberta Flack wrote "Killing Me Softly" about singer Don McLean. The Greek version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint. Spencer Eldon was the name of the naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's album All three major 1996 Presidential candidates, Clinton, Dole and Perot, are left-handed. The Madagascan Hissing Cockroach is one of the few insects who give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs. The book of Esther in the Bible is the only book which does not mention the name of God. Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortned to Sheriff. An animal epidemic is called an epizootic. Dracula is the most filmed story of all time, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is second and Oliver Twist is third. The silhouette on the NBA logo is Jerry West. The silhouette on the Major League Baseball logo is Harmon Killebrew. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P. The little lump of flesh just forward of your ear canal, right next to your temple, is called a tragus. Soweto in South Africa ws derived from SOuth WEst TOwnship. Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants. The Andy Griffth Show was the first spin-off in TV history. It was a spin-off of the Danny Thomas Show. Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils. Walt Disney's autograph bears no resemblance to the famous Disney logo. Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates that may have blue eyes. The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used. The two longest one-syllable words in the English language are "screeched" and "strengths." Great Britain was the first county to issue postage stamps. Hence, the postage stamps of Britain are the only stamps in the world not to bear the name of the country of origin. However, every stamp carries a relief image or a silhouette of the monarch's head instead. Images for picture stamps in the United States are commissioned by the United States Postal Service Department of Philatelic Fulfillment. Artist Constantino Brumidi fell from the done of the U.S. Capitol while painting a mural around the rim. He died four months later. Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games. There were no squirrels on Nantucket until 1989. Cathy Rigby is the only woman to pose nude for Sports Illustrated. (August 1972) Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan. Will Clark of the Texas Rangers is a direct descendant of William Clark of Lewis and Clark. When ocean tides are at their highest, they are called "spring tides." When they are at their lowest, they are call "neep tides." February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon. The last NASCAR driver to serve jail time for running moonshine was Buddy Arrington. Many Japanese golfers carry "hole-in-one" insurance, because it is traditional in Japan to share one's good luck by sending gifts to all your friends when you get an "ace." The price for what the Japanese term an "albatross" can often reach $10,000. The difference between male and female blue crabs is the design located on their apron (belly.) The male blue crab has the Washington Monument while the female apron is shaped like the U.S. Capitol. It takes a lobster approxiamately seven years to grow to be one pound. The ridges on the sides of coins are called reeding. The lot numbers for the cyanide-tainted Tylenol capsules scare back in 1982 were MC2880 and 1910MD. Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds. The Roman emperor Caligula made his horse a senator. At latitude 60 degrees south you can sail all the way around the world. A Chinese checkerboard has 121 holes. The hyoid bone, in your throat, is the only bone in the body not attached to another bone. Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have seven neck vertebra. Sunbeams that shine down through the clouds are called crespucular rays. Very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds are called scuds. On a dewy morning, if you look at your shadow in the grass, the dew drops shine light back to your eye creating a halo called a heilgenschein (German for halo.) The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself." Giraffes have no vocal cords. Joe DiMaggio had more home runs than strikeouts during his career. All porcupines float in water. Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio. A-1 Steak Sauce contains both orange peel and raisins. Many northern parishes (counties) of Louisiana did not agree with the Confederate movement. To show their disapproval, they changed their names. That's why there is a Union Parish, Jefferson Parish, etc. The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites. Residents of the island of Lesbos are Lesbosians, rather than Lesbians. (Of course, lesbians are called lesbians because Sappho was from Lesbos.) The Chinese ideogram for 'trouble' symbolizes 'two women living under one roof'. German has a wood for the peace offerings brought to your mate when you've committed some conceived slight. This is "drachenfutter" or dragon's food. In Chinese, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same. No word in the English language rhymes with month. Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired." The poisonous copperhead smells likefresh cut cucumbers. In Disney's "Fantasia", the Sorcerer's name is "Yensid" (Disney backwards.) The smallest mushroom's name is "Hop-low." Anne Boleyn had six fingernails on one hand. Mustard gas was invented in the McKinley Building on the American University campus. Additionally, preliminary work on the Manhattan Project was done in that building. The government used the McKinley Building because of its unusual archticture. If there would be any type of large explosion inside the building, the building would implode onto itself, containing any lethal gas or nuclear material. The building now houses the Physics Department. When angered, the ears of Tazmanian devils turn a pinkish-red. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns. The naval rank of "Admiral" is derived from the Arabic phrase "amir al bahr", which means "lord of the sea". The Les Nessman character on the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati wore a band-aid in every episode. Either on himself, his glasses, or his clothing. A coat hanger is 44 inches long if straightened The roads on the island of Guam are made with coral. Guam has no sand. The sand on the beaches is actually ground coral. When concrete is mixed, the coral sand is used instead of importing regular sand from thousands of miles away. Mt. Vernon Washington grows more tulips than the entire country of Holland. Jamie Farr (who played Klinger on M*A*S*H) was the only member of the cast who actually served as a soldier in the Korean war. The southern most city in the United States is Na'alehu, Hawaii. Alaska was the only part of the United States that was invaded by the Japanese during WWII. The territory was the island of Adak in the Aleutian Chain. Woodward Ave in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere. Michigan was the first state to plow it's roads and the first to adopt a yellow dividing line. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village". The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119. The shortest verse in the Bible is "Jesus wept." Way back when they were using marble columns, the people selling the columns would carve out the centers and fill it with wax.So the people buying them started asking "Is it without wax?" Or in other words "Are you sincere?" Zaire is the world leader in cobalt mining, producing two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply. No modern language has a true concept of "I am." It is always used linked with are in reference of another verb. Little known Cathedral Caverns near Grant, Alabama has the world's largest cave opening, the largest stalagmite (Goliath), and the largest stalagmite forest in the World. The only person ever to decline a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was Sinclair Lewis for his book Arrowsmith. Maine is the only state that borders on only one state. There are almost twice as many people in Rhode Island than there are in Alaska. Kudzu is not indigenous to the South, but in that climate it can grow up to six inches a day. Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ? The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.' The word 'pixel' is a contraction of either 'picture cell' or 'picture element.' Ralph Lauren's original name was Ralph Lifshitz. Bananas do not grow on trees, but on rhizomes. Astronauts in the Space Shuttle are weightless not because there is no gravity in space, but because they are in free fall around the Earth. St. Augustine was the first major proponent of the "missionary" position. Lizzie Borden was acquitted. Alexander Hamilton was shot by Aaron Burr in the groin. Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category. Roger Ebert is the only film critic to have ever won the Pulitzer prize. A scholar who studies the Marquis de Sade is called a Sadian, not a Sadist (of course). Tribeca in Manhattan stands for TRIangle BElow CAnal street. Soho stands for SOuth of HOuston street. Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church. Theworld's largest wine cask is in Heidleberg, Germany. Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an aligator while he hosted "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom." Cat's urine glows under a blacklight. Seven Olympic gold medal winners eventually went on to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World Kerimski Church in Finland is world's biggest church made of wood.The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a projected death toll while it was being built. No one died. The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows. A cat has four rows of whiskers. Vincent Van Gogh comitted suicide while painting Wheat Field with Crows. An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes. Jelly Belly jelly beans were the first jelly beans in outer space when they went up with astronauts in the June 21, 1983 voyage of the space shuttle Challenger (the same voyage as the first American woman in space, Sally Ride). Baseballer Connie Mack's real name was Cornelius McGilicuddy. If you were standing in the northernmost point in the contiguous (48) states, you'd be standing in Minnesota. Only thirty percent of the famous Maryland blue crabs are actually from Maryland, the rest are from North Carolina and Virginia. Back in the mid to late 80's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator. Not all of West Virginia voted to go with the North. When the State of West Virginia was formed from Virginia in 1863 the three western counties in Virginia voted to go with West Virginia, but West Virginia didn't take them because they were poor. Instead they took three counties that voted to stay with Virginia, because they were richer and they had the B&O railroad. Those counties since split and are 5 Jefferson, Hampshire, Berkley, Mineral, and Morgan. The first Ford cars had Dodge engines. The Dodge brothers Horace and John were Jewish, that's why the first Dodge emblem had a star of David in it. Studebaker was the only major car company to stop making cars while making a profit from them. Studebaker still exists, but is now called Worthington. Chrysler built B-29's that bombed Japan, Mitsubishi built Zeros that tried to shoot them down. Both companies now build cars in a joint plant call Diamond Star. On the new hundred dollar bill the time on the clock tower of Independence Hall is 4:10. The top three cork-producing countries are Spain, Portugal and Algeria. (Cork comes from trees.) In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy's last name is Gail. It is shown on the mail box. If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and the late M*A*S*H star McLean Stevenson were both once assistant football coaches at Northwestern University. The letter W is the only letter in the alphabet that doesn't have 1 syllable... it has three. All swans and all sturgeons in England are property of the Queen. Messing with them is a serious offense. Michael Di Lorenzo, who plays Eddie Torres on New York Undercover is one of the lead dancers in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video. Only two people signed the Decleration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on Augest 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 year later. October 4, 1957 is a historic date to be remembered, it is the day both "Leave it to Beaver" and the Russian satellite Sputnik 1 were launched. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. It takes about a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and about a gallon to clean the pot. The antifungal, nystatin, which is sometime used for treating thrush, is named after New York State Institute for Health (Acronym) QANTAS, the name of the Australian national airline, is a (former) acronym, for Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service. The world's largest four-faced clock sits atop the Allen-Bradley plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Almonds are members of the peach family. The first video ever played on MTV Europe was "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits. If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5 etc) the total is 5050 The "Grinch" singer and voice of Tony the Tiger is a charming man named Thurl Ravenscroft. The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended to represent the first letter ("shin," pronounced "sheen") of the word "shalom." As a small boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; eventually he was able to add it to "Star Trek" lore. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe. Ham radio operators got the term "ham" coined from the expression "ham-fisted operators", a term used to describe early radio users who sent Morse code (i.e. pounded their fists). While the Chinese invented gunpowder, they were not the first to develop firearms. Sam Colt invented the "revolving pistol." Therefore, all revolvers are correctly called pistols. A 12 gauge "rifled slug" does not spin, even though there are grooves on it's bearing surface. A slug actually travels like a dart. Revolvers cannot be silenced, due all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel. A bullet fired from the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge (also called the .308 Winchester) is still supersonic at 1000 yards. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards." The home team must provide the referee with 24 footballs for each National Football League game. The maximum weight for a golf ball is 1.62 oz. A flea expert is a pullicologist. A bear has 42 teeth. M&M's stands for the last names of Forrest Mars, Sr., then candymaker, and his associate Bruce Murrie. The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle. Table tennis balls have been known to travel off the paddle at speeds up to 105.6 miles per hour. In Irian Jaya exists a tribe of tall, white people who use parrots as a warning sign against intruders. In the Dutch province of Twente people live on average half a year shorter than in the rest of the Netherlands. Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise. This is because all knights used to be right-handed. When the intruding army would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which was holding the sword because of the difficulties in climbing the stairs. Left-handed knights would have had no troubles except left-handed people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were descendants of the devil. Duddley DoRight's Horses name was "Horse." If the Spaceship Earth ride at EPCOT was a golf ball, to be the proportional size to hit it, you'd be two miles tall. On Sesame Street, Bert's goldfish were named Lyle and Talbot, presumably after the actor Lyle Talbot. The word "hangnail" comes from Middle English: ang- (painful) + nail. Nothing to do with hanging. Louis IV of France had a stomach the size of two regular stomachs. Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain smoked forty cigars a day for the last years of his life. Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Haley's Comet came into veiw. When He died in 1910, Haley's Comet came into view again. Pepsi originally contained pepsin, thus the name. Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age. The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado. If you were born in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the Manhattan project (where they made the atomic bomb), your birthplace was listed as a post office box in Albequerque. Robert Kennedy was killed in the Ambassador Hotel, the same hotel that housed Marilyn Monroe's first modelling agency. Ronald Regan sent out the army phoyographer who first discovered Marilyn Monroe. Carbonated water, with nothing else in it,can dissolve limestone, talc, and many other low-Moh's hardness minerals. Coincidentally, carbonated water is the main ingredient in soda pop. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox, Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T. The newest dog breed is the Bull Boxer, first bred in the United states in 1990-91. The first hard drive available for the Apple ][ had a capacity of 5 megabytes. South of Tucson, Arizona, all road signs are in the Metric System. In many cases, the amount of storage space on a recordable CD is measured in minutes. 74 minutes is about 650 megabytes, 63 minutes is 550 megabytes. The real name of Astro (the dog fromThe Jetsons) is "Tralfaz" -- his real owner appeared one day to claim him but wound up giving him back to the Jetsons. Charlie Brown's father was a barber. The original story from Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights begins, "Aladdin was a little Chinese boy." Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intraveinously When a film is in production, the last shot of the day is the "martini shot", the next to last one is the "Abby Singer". Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.) Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the U.S., but technically it is number 47. Until August 7, 1953, Congress forgot to vote on a resolution to admit Ohio to the Union. It is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly -- so says City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, California. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar. Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life! What about milk, you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living! When Saigon fell the signal for all Americans to evacuate was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" being played on the radio. The Fort George Point in Belize City was formed by the silt runoff of Hurricane Hattie. If you lace your shoes from the inside to the outside the fit will be snugger around your big toe. Only 1/3 of the people that can twitch their ears can twitch only one at a time. The expression "What in tarnation" comes from the original meaning: "What in eternal damnation" Gary Burgough who played Walter Radar O'Reily on M*A*S*H has a deformed left thumb. If you watch closely you will see that he never shows his left hand. Only two states' names begin with double consonants: Florida and Rhode Island. The volume of the Earth's moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean Ingrown toenails are hereditary. The Cincinnati Reds baseball team name was officially changed to the Redlegs during the anti-communist movement. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance. "Xmas" does not begin with the Roman letter X. It begins with the Greek letter "chi," which was used in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation for the word "Christ" (xus = christus, etc.) The ampersand (&) is actually a stylised version of the Latin word "et," meaning and." The largest city in the United States with a one syllable name is Flint, Michigan. The most common name in the world is Mohammed. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined. On the cartoon show 'The Jetsons', Jane is 33 years old and her daughter Judy is 15. In Mel Brooks' 'Silent Movie,' mime Marcel Marceau is the only person who has a speaking role. Only humans and horses have hymens. No NFL team which plays it's home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl. (Texas Stadium, home of the Cowboys, is not a dome, there is a large hole in the roof.) The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver". Wally and Beaver had a baby alligator which they kept in the toilet. In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured The most eastern part of the western world is located in Ilomantsi, Finland. "Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting." The term the "Boogey Man will get you" comes from the Boogey people,who still inhabit an area of Indonesia. These people still act as pirates today and attack ships that pass. Thus the term spread "if you don't watch out the Boogey man will get you." The Saturn V moon rocket consumed 15 tons of fuel per second. The state with the longest coastline in the US is Michigan. Race car is a palindrome. We will have four consecutive full moons making two blue moons in 1999 (January 2 and 31, March 2 and 31.) The only other time it happened this century was in 1915 (January 1 and 31, March 1 and 31.) The Basset Horn, a kind of alto clarinet, was named after its inventor -- a man named Horn. "Basset" is from "Basetto," or "little bass" in Italian. There are more bald eagles in the province of British Columbia then there are in the whole United States. Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son. The "second unit" films movie shots that do not require the presence of actors. Pulp Fiction cost $8 million to make - $5 million going to actor's salaries. The world's second largest pipe organ is located at the Organ Grinder on 82nd avenue in Portland, Oregon. Games Slayter, a Purdue graduate, invented fiberglass. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as competition. It is not chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine. Olympic Badminton rules say that the bird has to have exactly fourteen feathers The music group Simply Red is named because of its love for the football team, Manchester United, who have a red home strip. In case you ever find yourself piloting a dogsled, shout "Jee!" to make the dogs turn left and "Ha!" to go right. Richard Nixon left instructions for "California, Here I Come" to be the last piece of music played at his funeral ("softly and slowly") were he to die in office. The earliest document in Latin in a woman's handwriting (it is from the first century A.D.) is an invitation to a birthday party. Spot, Data's cat on Star Trek: The Next Generation, was played by six different cats. Captain Jean-Luc Picard's fish was named Livingston. Hydrogen gas is the least dense substance in the world, at 0.08988 g/cc Hydrogen solid is the most dense substance in the world, at 70.6 g/cc The longest U.S. highway is route 6 starting in Cape Cod, Massachusetts going through 14 states, and ending in Bishop, California... The movie "Paris, Texas" was banned in the city of Paris, Texas, shorty after its box office release. The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England use the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y". Pickled herrings were invented in 1375. The number of the trash compactor in Star Wars (20th Century Fox, 1977) is 3263827. Each year there is one ton of cement poured for each man, woman, and child in the world. At McDonalds in New Zealand, they serve apricot pies instead of cherry ones. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together." The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The international telphone dialing code for Antarctica is 672. A byte, in computer terms, means 8 bits. A nibble is half that: 4 bits. (Two nibbles make a byte!) A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the production of Guinness beer. Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball. If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom. The airport in La Paz, Bolivia is the world's highest airport. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher. The housefly hums in the middle octave, key of F. Chicago is closer to Moscow than to Rio de Janeiro. Original copy of the Declaration of Independence is lost. The copy in Washington D.C. is what is referred to as a holograph. That is a term for a handmade copy of a document and is not the same as a laser produced hologram. Singpore is the only country with one train station. The little bags of netting for gas lanterns (called 'mantles') are radioactive--so much so that they will set of an alarm at a nuclear reactor. When measuring fonts 'point size' refers to the height of capital letters (one point being one 72nd of an inch). 'Pitch' is a horizontal measurement of the number of letters which can be printed in an inch. The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one endpoint is P. In the movie "the Right Stuff" there is a scene where a government recruiter for the Mercury astronaut program (played by Jeff Goldblum) is in a bar at Muroc Dry Lake, California. His partner suggests Chuck Yeager as a good astronaut candidate. Jeff proceeds to badmouth Yeager claiming they need someone who went to college. During the conversation the real Chuck Yeager is playing a bartender who is standing behind the recruiters eavesdropping. General Yeager is listed low in the movie credits as 'Fred.' "Speak of the Devil" is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention. That's why when your talking about someone and they show up people say "Speak of the Devil" Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. Nauru is the only country in the world with no official capital. (Its government offices are all in Yaren District, but there's no official capital.) South Africa is the only country with three official capitals: Pretoria, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein. Lucy Ricardo's maiden name was McGillicudy. Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy. The red giant star Betelgeuse has a diameter larger than that of the Earth's orbit around the sun. If your eyes are six feet above the surface of the ocean, the horizon wil be about three statute miles away. The one-hundred eleventh element is known as "unnilenilenium" The longest muscle name is the "levator labii superioris alaeque nasi" and Elvis popularized it with his lip motions. The longest time someone has typed on a typewriter continuously is 264 hrs., set by Violet Gibson Burns. The Dutch town of Leeuwarden can be spelled 225 different ways. There was once a town named "6" in West Virginia. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older A cat has 32 muscles in each ear An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain. The oldest word in the English language is "town" The sea wasp is half an inch long at best and more poisonous than any other jellyfish known to man. Tigars have striped skin, not just striped fur. Gerald Ford pardoned Robert E. Lee posthumously of all crimes of treason. The band Duran Duran got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie Barbarella. There are 22 stars surrounding the mountain on the Paramount Pictures logo. After human death, post-mortem rigidity starts in the head and travels to the feet, and leaves the same way it came -- head to toe. Police dogs are trained to react to commands in a foreign language; commonly German but more recently Hungarian or some other Slavic tongue. A Laforte fracture is a fracture of all facial bones. It would allow one to pull on another face and remove it like a mask if not held on by skin. Debra Winger was the voice of E.T. Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt were all cousins through one connection or another. (FDR and Eleanor were about five times removed.) The Earth-Moon size ratio is the largest in the our solar system, excepting Pluto-Charon. Each unit on the Richter Scale is equivalent to a power factor of about 32. So a 6 is 32 times more powerful than a 5! Though it goes to 10, 9 is estimated to be the point of total tetonic destruction (2 is the smallest that can be felt unaided.) Most snakes have either only one lung, or in some cases, two, with one much reduced in size. This apparently serves to make room for other organs in the highly-elongated bodies of snakes. A twelve-foot anaconda can catch, kill, and eat a six-foot caiman, a close relative of crocodles and alligators. While these snakes are not usually considered to be the *longest* snake in the world, they are the heaviest, exceeding the reticulated python in girth. Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur. The story was changed in the 1600s by a translator. It was the left shoe that Aschenputtel (Cinderella) lost at the stairway, when the prince tried to follow her. Cinderella is known as Tuhkimo in Finland. If you come from Birmingham, you are a Brummie. The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with, e.g. Asia, Europe. There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs six times: Indivisibility. The dome on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, conceals a billiards room. In Jefferson's day, billiards were illegal in Virginia. According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, it is possible to go slower than light and faster than light, but it is impossible to go at the speed of light. In most advertisments, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch. Cleo and Caesar were the early stage names of Cher and Sonny Bono. Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff, except for one flavor: Mint Oreo. The "heat" of peppers is rated on the Scoville scale. Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize *this* was the day of the changeover. In left hand drive countries, such as the UK, Ireland, Japan, and Australia, drivers sit on the right hand side of the car. Except for Sweden, where drivers sat on the left, as in North-America. Japan is the third most densely populated country in the world. First is the Netherlands, followed by Belgium. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery. The "D" in D-day means "Day". The French term for "D-Day" is "J-jour". Female orcas live twice as long as male orcas. The larger numbers of female orcas in a pod are because of the female's longer lifespan, not because the males have collected a harem. Most spiders belong to the orb weaver spider family, Family Aranidae. This is pronounced "A Rainy Day." The Mongol emperor Genghis Khan's original name was Temujin. Genghis Khan started out life as a goatherd. The type specimen for the human species is the skull of Edward Drinker Cope, an American paleontologist of the late 1800's. A type specimen is used in paleontology as the best example of that species. The first word spoken by an ape in the movie Planet of the Apes was "Smile". The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are known as the philtrum. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan" Hummingbirds are the only animals able to fly backwards All the dirt from the foundation to build the World Trade Center in NYC was dumped into the Hudson River to form the community now known as Battery City Park. The Holland and Lincoln Tunnels under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York are an engineering feat. The air circulators in the tunnels circulate fresh air completely every ninety seconds. The dirt road that General Washington and his soldiers took to fight off General Clinton during the Battle of Monmouth was called the Burlington Path. The only social fraternity founded during the Civil War was Theta Xi fraternity, at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York in 1864. The Hudson River along the island of Manhattan flows in either direction depending upon the tide. Several buildings in Manhattan have their own zip code! The World Trade Center has several. Lucifer is latin for "Light Bringer". It is a translation of the Hebrew name for Satan, Halael. Satan means "adversary", devil means "liar". A cat's jaws cannot move sideways. Geller and Huchra have made three-dimensional maps of the distrubution of galaxies. In each layer of the map some galaxies are grouped together in such a way that they resemble a human being. Avocado is derived from the Spanish word 'aguacate' which is derived from 'ahuacatl' meaning testicle. The company providing the liability insurance for the Republican National Convention in San Diego is the same firm that insured the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays. Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer. The smallest port in Canada is Port Williams, Nova Scotia. The Canadian province of Newfoundland has its own time zone, which is half an hour behind Atlantic standard time. Cats in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have a very high probability of having six toes. The second longest word in the English language is "antidisestablishmenterianism". Rats like boiled sweets better than they like cheese. Big Ben was slowed five minutes one day when a passing group of starlings decided to take a rest on the minute hand of the clock. The Velvet Underground was named after a book on the S&M culture. The Velvet Underground's first manager was Andy Warhol, who also produced their first album and designed the cover artwork. The cover artwork for the album (called "The Velvet Underground and Nico") featured a bright yellow banana that could be peeled off to reveal a bright pink banana underneath, with the label "Peel Slowly and See." "Peel Slowly and See" is the title of the Velvet Underground comprehensive boxed set, which is the only currently-available Velvet Underground recording to feature a peelable banana. The peelable banana caused substantial delays in the production of the VU's first album and contributed to Lou Reed's firing Andy Warhol as the group's manager. The "wild" horses of western North America are actually feral, not wild. Native speakers of Japanese learn Spanish much more easily than they learn English. Native speakers of English learn Spanish much more easily than they learn Japanese. New Zealand kiwis lay the largest eggs with respect to their body size of any bird. Elephants have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean. When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau." Sting got his name because of a yellow-and-black striped shirt he wore until it literally fell apart. Every photograph of an American atomic bomb detonation was taken by Harold Edgerton. The topknot that quails have is called a hmuh. Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth ... and whose shame created the expression for ignominy, "His name is Mudd." The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds. The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint -- no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers. There is a type of parrot in New Zealand that likes to eat the rubber strips that line car windows. New Zealand is also the only country that contains every type of climate in the world. Cockroaches' favorite food is the glue on envelopes and on the back of postage stamps In 1969, the last Corvair was painted gold. Ralph Kramden made 62 dollars a week. The only way to stop the pain of the flathead fish's sting is by rubbing the same fish's slime on the wound it gave you. Betsy Ross was born with a fully formed set of teeth. Betsy Ross's other contribution to the American Revolution, beside sewing the first American flag, was running a munitions factory in her basement. Devo's original name was going to be De-evolution. They shortened it to Devo. Steely Dan got their name from a sexual device depicted in the book 'The Naked Lunch'. Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman. Andy Warhol created the Rolling Stone's emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the 'Sticky Fingers' album. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were the two left-handed Beatles. Chris Ford scored the first ever NBA three-point shot. Of all the East Coast States, New Hampshire has the shortest coastline, about fourteen miles. New Hampshire is also the only State name the has four consecutive consonants in it (in the same word). Ontario is the only Canadian Province that borders the Great Lakes. Alaska has the longest border with Canada of all the fifty states. Montana has the longest border with Canada of the lower forty-eight States. Montana also borders the most Canadian Provinces of all the fifty states. It borders three of them. Arkansas is the only US State that begins with "a" but does not end with "a". All the other States that begin with "a", Arizona, Alabama and Alaska, also end with "a". Only three angels are mentioned by name in the Bible: Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer. Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice." Wilma Flinestone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker. Lenny Kravitz's mother played the part of "Helen" on "The Jeffersons." The term "devil's advocate" comes from the Roman Catholic church. When deciding if someone should become a saint, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view. Compact discs read from the inside to the outside edge, the reverse of how a record works. The term "Mayday" used for signaling for help (after SOS), it comes from the French term "M'aidez" which is pronounced "MayDay" and means, "Help Me" Grapes explode when you put them in the microwave. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 did start in a barn belonging to Patrick and Katherine O'Leary. The O'Leary's house was one of the few that survived the fire. The O'Leary's house had to be guarded by soldiers for weeks afterwards, however, because many enraged residents wanted to burn it down. The biggest bell is the "Tsar Kolokol" cast in the Kremlin in 1733. It weighs 216 tons, but alas, it is cracked and has never been rung. The bell was being stored in a Moscow shed which caught fire. To "save" it the caretakers decided to throw water on the bell. This did not succeed in -- the water hit the superheated metal and a giant piece immediately cracked off, destroying the bell forever. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. The smallest mountain range in the world is outside of Marysville, California and is named the Sutter Buttes. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children. Many species of bird copulate in the air. In general, a couple will fly to a very high altitude, and then drop. During their descent, the birds mate. Sometimes the couple gets too involved and SPLAT! If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die because they need gravity to swallow. There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, herein. You would have to count to one thousand to use the letter "A" in the English language to spell a whole number. The only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name Beard. Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sidewards, like a scissor, to extract the juices from the food. The letters H I O X in the latin alphabet is the only ones that look the same if you turn them upside down or see them from behind. The little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of flowing over the side, is called a "porcelator". When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home to a sellout crowd, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city. In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott". Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors. More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes. The metal part of a lamp that surrounds the bulb and supports the shade is called a harp. The metal part at the end of a pencil is twenty percent sulfur. John Larroquette of "Night Court" and "The John Larroquette Show" was the narrator of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Vietnamese currency consists only of paper money; no coins. Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting while he was alive, Red Vineyard at Arles. A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes. A pig's penis is shaped like a corkscrew. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. Skin is thickest is at the back -- 1/6 of an inch. The most sensitive finger is the forefinger. Alaska is the most northern, western and eastern state; it also has the highest latitude,the most eastern longitude and the most western longitude. Some of Beethoven's symphonies were performed in Kentucky before they were performed in Paris, France. The word denim comes from 'de Nimes', or from Nimes, a place in France. Dublin comes from the Irish Dubh Linn which means Blackpool Scottish is the language called Gaelic, whereas Irish is actually called Gaeilge. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life" A penguin only has sex twice a year. Mr. Spock's (of Star Trek) blood type was T-Negative The Dutch town of Abcoude is the only reasonably sized town/city in the world whose name begins with ABC. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. New Jersey has a spoon museum featuring over 5,400 spoons from every state and almost every country. Eleven square miles of southwest Kentucky (Fulton County) is cut off from the rest of the state by the Mississippi River. If you wish to travel from this cut off section to the rest of the state or vice-versa, you must first cross a bordering state. Point Roberts in Washington State is cut off from the rest of the state by British Columbia, Canada. If you wish to travel from Point Roberts to the rest of the state or vice versa, you must pass through Canada, including Canadian and U.S. customs A quarter has 119 grooves around the edge. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. The only city in the United States to celebrate Halloween on the October 30 instead of October 31 is Carson City, Nevada. October 31 is Nevada Day and is celebrated with a large stret party. On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner. No words in the English language rhyme with orange, silver or purple. A peanut is not a nut; it is a legume. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. "Evian" spelled backvards is naive. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Maine is the toothpick capital of the world. "Bookkeeper" and "bookkeeping" are the only words in the English language with three consecutive double letters. Paul McCartney's mother was a midwife. The flag of the Philippines is the only national flag that is flown differently during times of peace or war. The phrase "sleep tight" originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope. It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again. The A&W of root beer fame stands for Allen and Wright. A baby eel is called an elver, a baby oyster is called a spat. Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box. The arteries and veins surrounding the brain stem called the "circle of Willis" looks like a stick person with a large head. Welsh mercenary bowmen in the medieval period only wore one shoe at a time. On a trip to the South Sea islands, French painter Paul Gauguin stopped off briefly in Central America, where he worked as a laborer on the Panama Canal. The Ganges River in India boasts the only genuine fresh-water sharks in the entire world. The gene for the Siamese coloration in animals such as cats, rats or rabbits is heat sensitive. Warmth produces a lighter color than does cold. Putting tape temporarily on Siamese rabbit's ear will make the fur on that ear lighter than on the other one. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. Charles de Gaulle's final words were, "It hurts." The words 'sacrilegious' and 'religion' do not share the same etymological root. "John has a long moustache" was the coded-signal used by the French Resistance in WWII to mobilize their forces once the Allies had landed on the Normandy beaches. Gatorade was named for the University of Florida Gators where it was first developed. Brooklyn is the Dutch name for "broken valley" There are four states where the first letter of the capital city is the same letter as the first letter of the state: Dover, Delaware; Honolulu, Hawaii; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. There are four cars and eleven lightposts on the back of a ten-dollar bill. Venetian blinds were invented in Japan. The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought at neighbouring Breed's Hill. Former US Senator Barry Goldwater attended the opening night ceremonies and festivities at Bugsy Siegel's famous Las Vegas casino. They left him out of the movie Bugsy. He is pissed. Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute. ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their first names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.) The first electric Christmas lights were created by a telephone company PBX installer. Back in the old days, candles were used to decorate Christmas trees. This was obviously very dangerous. Telephone employees are trained to be safety concious. This installer took the lights from an old switchboard, connected them together, strung them on the tree, and hooked them to a battery. White Out was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith (Formerly of the Monkees) The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him. There is no such thing as naturally blue food, even blueberries are purple. In the 1983 film "JAWS 3D" the shark blows up. Some of the shark guts were the stuffed ET dolls being sold at the time. Walt Disney had wooden teeth. The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Perriwinkle Blue. Montana mountain goats will butt heads so hard their hooves fall off. The coast line around Lake Sakawea in North Dakota is longer than the California coastline along the Pacific Ocean Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar with "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes. The legbones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk. Kitsap County, Washington, was originally called Slaughter County, and the first hotel there was called the Slaughter House. Seattle, Washington, like Rome, was built on seven hills. Dinosaur droppings are called coprolites, and are actually fairly common. School busses in the United States are Chrome Yellow and used to be Omaha Orange. The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India. The tailless dinner jacket was invented in Tuxedo Park, New York. Thus it is called the "tuxedo dinner jacket" and is named after the town...not the other way around. The state of Maryland has no natural lakes. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world. Rhode Island is the smallest state with the longest name. The official name, used on all state documents, is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The chemical formula for Rubidium Bromide is RbBr. It is the only chemical formula known to be a palindrome! St. Paul, Minnesota was originally called Pigs Eye after a man who ran a saloon there. The first letters of the months July through November, in order, spell the name JASON. The first letters of the names of the Great Lakes spell HOMES. The numbers '172' can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Soldiers from every country salute with their right hand. Moisture, not air, causes superglue to dry. Charles Lindbergh took only four sandwiches with him on his famous transatlantic flight. Sarsaparilla is the root that flavors root beer. The U.S. Mint in Denver, Colorado is the only mint that marks its pennies. A full moon always rises at sunset. If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning first before you will die of oxygen deprivation. Moon was Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name. (Buzz Aldrin was the second man o n the moon in 1969.) The only two Southern state capitals not occuppied by Northern troops during the American Civil War were Austin, Texas and Tallahasse, Florida. Rabbits love licorice. Ogdensburg, New York is the only city in the United States situated on the St. Lawrence River. Rene Descartes came up with the theory of coordinate geometry by looking at a fly walk across a tiled ceiling. Kelsey Grammar sings and plays the piano for the theme song of Fraiser. Alan Thicke, the father in the TV show GrowingPains wrote the theme songs for The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes. If a statue in the park of a person on a 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 recieved in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his f

What do you think of this? Scary stuff? Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent whom the movie "Munich" was about... He was Golda Meir's bodyguard and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games. In a lecture in NYC a few weeks ago he shared information that EVERY American needs to know but our government has not shared. His bio is below, his book is "Staying Safe". First, I am going to share what he discussed in regard to the Bush Administration, 9/11 and Iraq and then I will share his predictions for the next attack on the U.S. He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week - O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show and unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack occurred. Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11 a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. The Administration ridiculed him and refused to respond. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant - but still the Administration does not listen to him. He didn't agree with going into Iraq - said it didn't make sense if we wanted terrorists responsible for 9/11 (and also he believes in Golda Meir's approach which was to bring justice to the terrorists but do not take down civilians - killing civilians only creates more terrorists - but similar to Bush, Israel's subsequent leaders were not as insightful as Golda Meir) - however, when we did decide to invade Iraq we should have learned from Israel's past mistakes. He very articulately stated that Israel's greatest mistake against their war on terror was to invade the West Bank and Gaza and stay there... He said they should have done the proven anti-terrorist strategy which was "Hit and Leave" instead of "Hit and Stay." Now we are stuck in Iraq and it is worse than Vietnam - Iraq is the U.S.'s West Bank/ Gaza. He doesn't think we will ever be able to truly leave because even when we are able to pull our troops back we will still have to go back regularly which will keep us quagmired. We should have hit hard and left immediately. Now for the scary stuff.... He predicts the next attack on the U.S. Is coming within the next few months. Forget hijacking airplanes because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as the people on the plane will not go down quietly. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke- we are being reactionary versus looking at strategies that are effective. 1) our machines are outdated. They look for metal and the new explosives are made of plastic 2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire - we now have to take off our shoes, a group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives - now we can't bring liquids on board. He is waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on their underwear and light up in a plane or in the terminal and then we will all have to travel naked! 3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates, he says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times and on the front end when people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. Israel checks bags before people can enter the airport. Now, back to his predictions: He says the next attack will come in a few months and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places that people congregate: Disneyland, Las Vegas, Big Cities (NY, SFO, Chicago, etc...) and there it will be shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, casinos, etc.. As well as rural America (Wyoming, Montana, etc...). The attack will be simultaneous detonations around the country (they like big impact) 5-8 cities including rural areas. They won't need to use suicide bombers because at largely populated places like the MGM Grand in Vegas - they can simply valet park! He says this is well known in intelligence circles but our government does not want to alarm Americans. However, he also said that the US will attack Iran and Syria before Bush leaves office. In addition, since we don't have enough troops The US will likely use small, strategic nuclear weapons regardless that the headlines the next day will read "US Nukes Islamic World" and the world will be a different place to such an extent that global warming will be irrelevant. He travels regularly to the Middle East and he knows his stuff. On a good note - he says we don't have to worry about being nuked - he says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons - they like suicide as the frontline approach. He also says the next level of terrorists will not be coming from abroad, but will be homegrown - having attended our schools and universities - but will have traveled frequently back and forth to the Middle East. They will know and understand Americans but we won't understand them - we still only have a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks and we need that to change he said... What can we do? From an intelligence perspective he says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence but follow Israel, Ireland and England's example of human intelligence both from an infiltration perspective as well as trust citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens but our government treats us like babies and thinks we can't handle it and will panic. He did a test for Congress recently putting an empty briefcase in 5 major spots in 5 US cities and not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago - someone tried to steal it! In Israel an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds with a citizen shouting "Unattended Bag" and the area cleared slowly, calmly and immediately by the people themselves. Unfortunately, we haven't hurt enough yet for us to be that concerned.... He also discussed how many children were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11 without parents to pick them up and the schools did not have a plan. Do you have a plan with your kids, schools and families if you cannot reach each other by phone? If you cannot return to your house? If you cannot get to your child's school - do they know what to do? We should all have a plan. He said that our government's plan after the next attack is to immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use their telephone, cell phone, blackberry because they don't want terrorists to be able to talk to one another - do you have a plan if you cannot communicate directly with those that you love? Last week the Today Show began with a segment that Al Qaeda was resurfacing - the same kind of action on the Pakistani border occurred before 9/11... It is scary, but we do not have panic, we just need to be aware.... Unfortunately, the current Administration has not been helpful and we can not change things until 2008. Bio follows: Juval Aviv holds an M.A. in Business from Tel Aviv University and is President and CEO of Interfor, Inc., an international corporate intelligence and investigations firm. Juval Aviv is President and CEO of Interfor, Inc. Based in New York with offices around the world, founded in 1979, Interfor provides foreign and domestic intelligence services to the legal, corporate and financial communities and conducts investigations around the world. In addition, Mr. Aviv serves as a special consultant to the U.S. Congress and other policy makers on issues of terrorism, fraud and money laundering. A leading authority on terrorist networks, Mr. Aviv served as lead investigator for Pan Am Airways into the Pan Am 103-Lockerbie terrorist bombing. He was featured in the recent film, Munich, as the leader of the Israeli team that tracked down the terrorists who kidnapped the Israeli Olympic team. Interfor's services encompass white-collar crime investigations, asset search and recovery, corporate due diligence, litigation support, fraud investigations, internal compliance investigations, security and vulnerability assessments. Since its inception, Interfors asset investigation services have recovered over $2 billion worldwide for its clients. Before founding Interfor, Mr. Aviv served as an officer in the Israel Defense Force (Major, retired) leading an elite Commando/Intelligence Unit, and was later selected by the Israeli Secret Service (Mossad) to participate in a number of intelligence and special operations in many countries in the late 1960s and 1970s. While working as a consultant with El Al, Mr. Aviv surveyed the existing security measures in place and updated El Al's security program, making El Al the safest airline in business today. Most recently, Mr. Aviv wrote Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business,(2004,Harper Resource). He has been a guest on ABC Nightline, FOX News, CNN, BBC Newsnight, ZDF (German National Television) and RAI (Italian National Television) and has been featured in numerous articles in major magazines and newspapers worldwide. Sorry this was so long, but I didn't have a link to post.

You know You're in College When??? Another long one guys but hey its all for the good! Enjoy!!! You Know You're in College When... Type: Just for Fun - Inside Jokes Description: You know you're in college when... 1. High school started before 8am, but now anything before noon is considered “early." 2. You have more beer than food in your fridge. 3. Weekends start on Thursday. 4. 6am is when you go to sleep, not when you wake up. 5. You know many different ways to cook ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese. 6. The health center gives out free condoms, and people take them… just in case. 7. Instead of falling asleep in class, you stay in bed. 8. You know how late McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Qdoba, etc. are open. 9. You think it’s the weekend on a Wednesday and you don’t know what month it is. 10. You can't remember the last time you washed your car. 11. Your underwear/sock supply dictates your laundry schedule. 12. You check Facebook/Myspace more than once a day. 13. You get drunk dialed on any night of the week. 14. You wash dishes in the bathroom sink. 15. You’ve fallen off a loft bed. 16. You talk about beer pong like it’s a sport. 17. Finding random people in your house is perfectly normal, and you even sympathize with them... sometimes when you wake up you have no idea where you are. 18. Your primary news sources are the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. 19. You open a beer at 10 am and your roommate asks you if there’s more. 20. The standard of meals per day falls to two, sometimes just one. 21. Your trash is overflowing and your bank account isn’t. 22. You go to Target or WalMart more than 3 times a week. 23. You wear the same jeans for 13 days without washing them. 24. Your breakfast consists of a coke or cereal bar on the way to class... anything with caffeine will do. 25. Quarters are like gold. 26. Your idea of feeding the poor is buying yourself some ramen noodles. 27. You live in a house with three couches, none of which match. 28. You try to study but seem to procrastinate by eating, going to study breaks, talking to people, etc... 29. You talk to your roommate on instant messenger when you’re both home. 30. You ask people what YOU did last night. 31. Certain things are now deemed "facebook worthy." When friends take pictures of you, you wonder how long it will take them to post them. 32. You’ve seen a hit and run involving a bicyclist/pedestrian. 33. You see people you know you’ve met but can never remember their names or how you know them. 34. You sleep more in class than in your room 35. Your idea of a square meal is a box of Pop-Tarts. 36. You've traveled with bags of dirty clothes. 37. You go home to do your laundry because you're too poor to pay the $2... or too lazy to go to a change machine. 38. You pay $100 for a book you don't read once, return it four months later, and get $7. 39. More than 20% of your household furnishings are made from milk crates. 40. You recognize the meat in the dorm soup as yesterday's meatloaf, and thus decide to eat a nice bowl of cereal - a safe bet for any meal. 41. You use words like "thus" (see #40). 42. You throw out bowls and plates because you don't feel like washing them. 43. Your beer pong table is nicer than all your other tables. 44. It takes preparation... and 3 people... to take out your garbage. 45. Going to the library is a social event. 46. You wear flip flops in the shower your freshman year... you know why. 47. You start joining clubs because of the free food. 48. Visits home depend on how much money you have for gas. 49. You skip one class to write a paper for another. 50. You have no idea where your tuition money is going... technology fees? I think not. 51. Bicycles don't seem as lame as they did in high school. 52. You stay up late to finish homework then sleep through the class in which it was due. 53. Girls: You've balanced your foot on a shampoo bottle to shave. 54. Your backpack is giving you scoliosis. 55. You've written a check for 45 cents or stopped to get $2.00 of gas. 56. Your bill in the bookstore will be comparable to tuition. 57. Going to the mailbox becomes an ego booster/breaker. 58. Most of your T.A.s are foreign...what's the deal? 59. You never realized so many people are smarter than you. 60. You never realized so many people are more dumb (aka "dumber") than you. 61. Western Europe could be wiped out by a terrible plague and you'd never know, but you can recite the last episode of your favorite show verbatim. 62. Care packages rank right up there with birthdays. 63. You craft ways to make any game into a drinking/stripping game. 64. You meet the type of people you thought only existed in movies. 65. Printers break down only when you desperately need them. 66. Anything can be cooked in a microwave. 67. Two words: bike cops. 68. You have Safe Ride programmed into your phone. 69. Old school Nintendo... and guitar hero... are pretty much the best things ever. 70. Going to the grocery at midnight is completely normal. 71. You call restaurants that deliver more than you call your own family. 72. You've paid bills over $5... in coins. 73. You can't imagine life without your computer/cell phone/ ipod. 74. Hoodies and sweatpants become the norm - jeans are considered "dressy" at certain occasions... like school. 75. A canceled class is almost as exciting as Christmas. 76. Taking a nap in the library is perfectly acceptable. 77. Your professors speak English... as a second language. 78. Your teachers swear in class and no one cares. 79. Candles in your dorm room are considered contraband, but cigarettes are ok. 80. You take condiment packets and napkins from fast food restaurants - hey, they're free. 81. Betta fish are like your family. 82. You bring back socks from the laundry room that may or may not be yours. 83. You know what people carrying suspiciously heavy backpacks after dark are doing... 84. The elevators take forever but you'll wait 10 minutes just so you don't have to climb stairs. 85. Your roommate asks you to check the weather on your computer when they're standing 5 feet away from the door. 86. Showers become more of an issue. 87. You press the automatic door opener instead of simply grabbing the handle when you approach a door. 88. Christmas lights seem to be acceptable all year round. 89. Class size doubles on exam days. 90. You donate plasma even though you know it's pretty sketchy. 91. You are no longer thankful that fire alarms are here to protect you. 92. You've bought Christmas presents from the book store and charged it to your student account so your parents pay for the gifts because you're too broke. 93. You begin to include ketchup on your list of acceptable vegetables. 94. You stay on campus for hours in between classes when it's too cold to walk home. 95. People have to help you kick the vending machine just so you can get your 50 cent bag of chips. 96. There's always a "question kid" in at least one of your classes, and you really wish someone would just tell him/her to shut the hell up. 97. You steal dishes from the cafeteria so you don't have to wash your own. 98. Laundry is an all-day event. 99. You no longer find it uncool to take naps. In fact, you quite enjoy them. 100. It's illegal to drink in the dorms yet they sell an assortment of shot glasses, beer mugs, tankards, etc. in the bookstore. 101. You find your list of acceptable napping places expanding daily to increasingly uncomfortable locations. 102. You fill out credit card applications for the free food. 103. You've eaten cereal out of a cup... with a fork. 104. Dressing up for Halloween becomes cool again. 105. You know at least one person who has dropped his/her cell phone into a toilet. 106. You hang multiple shirts on the same hanger to save space/money. 107. You become increasingly annoyed with the "old" people in class - props to them for going back to college but they generally ask really, really annoying questions. 108. You admire people's alcohol bottle shrines. 109. You set your clock 5-10 minutes ahead so you can potentially make it to class on time. 110. You eventually realize that setting your clock ahead makes no difference to you and you're still late. 111. You check ratemyprofessor.com (or something of the like) before choosing your class schedule. 112. You text faster than you type. 113. You only find out a class is cancelled after you get there and sit for about ten minutes. 114. You actually start using coupons, especially those school coupon books. 115. You open canned food and eat it... out of the can. 116. You run out of black ink and, instead of buying a new ink cartridge, decide blue is a nice substitute... adds a little flair. 117. You have numbers in your phone with labels like “Sketchy Steve” and “Alcohol Guy.” 118. The food in your fridge may or may not be older than your little brother. 119. The words "google" and "wikipedia" have become verbs. And you use them... quite often. 120. The names Morgan, Jim, Jack, and Jose could aptly describe either who you were with last night or what you had to drink. 121. You fill your empty two-liter bottles with pop from the school cafeteria. 122. You have a drinking buddy who can hold the most intellectual, deep conversations when drunk. Unfortunately, neither he/she nor you can remember most of it later. 123. Your floor has been dirty to the point that you've had to brush your feet off before putting on socks or getting into bed. 124. You're all for the free samples at grocery stores. 125. Energy drinks become your new best friends. 126. You realize that taking summer classes pretty much negates the fun connotation of "summer." 127. You know exactly how much food will fit into a mini-fridge. 128. You realize that said mini-fridge does NOT freeze ice cream. 129. You've made a sandwich on or eaten food off of your $1500 laptop. 130. Your scar stories involve alcohol and/or hearing what happened to you from your more sober friends. 131. You finish reading this and wonder how you can procrastinate next.

From SIN to SJU - some help please!? I will be 19 by the time I want to fly to Puerto Rico to visit a few friends, and I'm from Singapore. While I have checked UAL's website for flights, they tend to do a last minute switch of my preferred flight (about USD1,800) to something that's USD2,000+... which is wayyy too expensive. I do not need a hotel+air ticket package - all I need is to know the price of a round trip air ticket, leaving Singapore on 15 November 2008, and returning on 31 December 2008 - my times are flexible though! All I'm really worried about is the plane tearing apart, so airlines with questionable stability are out. I'm also a student, so the cheaper the better, of course! I'm still working on parental clearance to travel, but it's nice to have an actual amount to save for... If you are a parent, would you let your daughter travel alone?

things people put on resumes? 1. I am very detail-oreinted. 2. My intensity and focus are at inordinately high levels, and my ability to complete projects on time is unspeakable. 3. Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty! 4. Enclosed is a ruff draft of my resume. 5. It’s best for employers that I not work with people. 6. Here are my qualifications for you to overlook. 7. I am a quick leaner, dependable, and motivated. 8. If this resume doesn’t blow your hat off, then please return it in the enclosed envelope. 9. My fortune cookie said, “Your next interview will result in a job.” And I like your company in particular. 10. I saw your ad on the information highway, and I came to a screeching halt. 11. Insufficient writing skills, thought processes have slowed down some. If I am not one of the best, I will look for another opportunity. 12. Please disregard the attached resume-it is terribly out of date. 13. Seek challenges that test my mind and body, since the two are usually inseparable. 14. Graduated in the top 66% of my class. 15. Reason for leaving last job: The owner gave new meaning to the word paranoia. I prefer to elaborate privately. 16. Previous experience: Self-employed-a fiasco. 17. Exposure to German for two years, but many words are inappropriate for business. 18. Experience: Watered, groomed, and fed the family dog for years. 19. I am a rabid typist. 20. I have a bachelorette degree in computers. 21. Excellent memory; strong math aptitude; excellent memory; effective management skills; and very good at math. 22. Strengths: Ability to meet deadlines while maintaining composer. 23. I worked as a Corporate Lesion. 24. Reason for leaving last job: Pushed aside so the vice president’s girlfriend could steal my job. 25. Married, eight children. Prefer frequent travel. 26. Objective: To have my skills and ethics challenged on a daily basis. 27. Special skills: Thyping. 28. My ruthlessness terrorized the competition and can sometimes offend. 29. I can play well with others. 30. Personal Goal: To hand-build a classic cottage from the ground up using my father-in-law. 31. Objective: I want a base salary of $50-$60,000 dollars, not including bonus. And some decent benefits. Like a retirement plan, health insurance, personal or sick days. 32. Experience: Provided correct answers to customers’ questions. 33. Education: Graduated from predatory school with honors. 34. Never been fired, although it could happen anytime now. 35. I have happily been a “kept man” for the past 10 years. 36. Have extensive experience in turkey manufactures as well as new product development and implementation. 37. I am accustomed to speaking in front of all kinds of audiences. I make points as well as I can. 38. Personal: Five children. Dog: Jasper. Cat: Morris. Gerbil: Binky. 39. While in military, was instrumental in creation of a treat detection system. 40. My compensation package at my last job included a base salary of $64,500 with excellent benefits including flextime. I am looking for a position in which I can work a more flexible schedule. 41. Hire me and you won’t regret it - I am funny, cute, smart and creative… really. 42. Referees available upon request. 43. Previous rank: Senior instigator. 44. I have recently sold my home and I now live in a large RV so I will be able to relocate quickly. 45. Reason for leaving: They stopped paying me. 46. Cover letter: Desire the chance to showcase my delightful personality, intelligence and superior judgment, which are so hard to find these days. 47. Personal achievements: Successfully played “Chop Sticks” on a toy piano with my big toes. 48. Objective: To obtain a position where I can make a difference, infecting others with my professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication. 49. Strengths: Impersonal skills. 50. Special interests: I like any projects that are fun. 51. Please explain any breaks in your employment career: 15 minute coffee break while working at a home improvement store. 52. Vocational plans: Sea World.

Best time to book cheap vacations packages in Cuba? My partner and I have decided to travel to Cuba in December or January for our annual vacation, but I just finished school so I don't have much money to work with. To book a winter vacation for this time period, when is the best time to book? Is it better to wait last minute or should we book a few weeks in advance?

I need information on Maui FAST!? I'm looking to go to Maui the first week of August. I've never been and need any information possible. I want to know of any good travel agents/websites, last minute package deals, all inclusive, vs condos... just any information would be helpful. I haven't booked yet, but plan to soon. I live in Nor Cal. Thanks!

Do you believe this conspiracy? I am a part of a secret society known as the Sun Protectors. Every generation a new Sun Protector is chosen to provide for the race of subhuman sun-dwellers known as the Sols. The Sols are similar genetically to humans but look very different than us due to living beneath the surface of the sun. They have tall, slim, frail, and grey bodies. Their eyes are very large, black and slanted. Their noses, ears, and mouths are under-developed. It is said that the Sols are descended from ancient deities that used to control and reign over the entire solar system. But today, Sols are hapless creatures dependent on us to provide for their survival. They cannot survive any voyage from inside the sun. It is said that if it weren't for the journeys of the Sun Protectors every decade, their existence would cease forever. It is a mystery of how we discovered the Sols, how they came to be, and how they were able to survive before we discovered them. It is also unclear how long the Sun Protectors have existed, but their mission is never different. Using ancient magic we are able to travel from the Earth to the sun at the speed of light without the use of technology or machines. But the journey has its perils. The ancient magic is indifferent to how it is used. Every Sun Protector is vulnerable to space debris and asteroids. If one is unfortunate enough to make contact with any debris, he disintegrates into debris himself. The journey takes about eight minutes, but only about half of all voyages are successful, which is why we send so many so often. It is a dangerous, thankless mission, but in the long history of the society, not one person has ever declined to go. The initiation into the society is given at birth. A person is born a Sun Protector by being the offspring of protectors themselves. We have no written or oral history of our organization in order to remain secret from outsiders. The origins of our organization are shrouded in mystery. None remain who know of our distant past. We communicate among ourselves as little as necessary. Although there are no designated guidelines, a Sun Protector's first mission begins with the onset of adulthood and their last is the one that kills them. There is little remorse expressed by members when one of their own dies. A simple silent ceremony in memory of the departed is all that is given. Early on we learned that the more emotion we attach to our work, the more difficult it becomes. Reluctantly, I admit that I refuse to abide by these rules. I listen to what my emotions have to tell me, despite the fact that I have to keep them all within myself. The story of my first journey is one I will always think about, and one I can always feel. The journey of a Sun Protector begins when a box is delivered to the resident home of a member. The box appears to be completely ordinary, but it is nearly weightless, as if nothing is inside it. While never spoken of, it is a given that a protector never opens the package that he is delivering. I was the exception; I chose to be. I had to postpone my mission for a few days to take care of a few earthly duties. And in that time, my interest of the possible contents of the box began to overwhelm me. I constantly staged a mental debate against myself, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the scenario. It is sometimes said that one of the most quintessential human traits is the quest for knowledge, often pessimistically referred to as curiosity. Of course I couldn't be the first Sun Protector to wonder what's contained within the box. But could I be the first to carry out the forbidden act? If my lack of fear is my greatest quality, then my profound curiosity is perhaps my worst. I traveled into a nearby woods and set the box down on an old stump. With little hesitation, I tore at the box without care. A strange emotion filled within me; a mixture of apprehension and adrenaline. After an eon of seconds, the box was opened. I immediately jumped back, ready for anything to leap out and surprise me. Seconds passed. Nothing happened. The box was empty. After some quick thinking I imagined that, possibly, within the box was invisible magic, and somehow the magic is what sustained the survival of the Sols. But I realized that the idea seemed very far-fetched. I had never heard of any type of invisible magic. Every magic I have ever learned about possessed a bright, colorful aura about it. And then, within the next few moments, I had the revelation of my lifetime: there was nothing in the box because it's exactly what the Sols need from us. By paying them a visit every so-often, we are appeasing their solidarity. Perhaps without our visits, the Sols would be less pacifistic of our species. I have learned much of our society, but there remains far too much of that which I don't understand. Yet I do know this: the Sun Protectors do not deliver a means of survival, they deliver a message; a message of humanity. As would be expected, my discovery only gave rise to further questions. Among all of them, however, the greatest mystery may be: why do we go? The Sols offer us nothing in return. We have no communication with them and they don't seem to express any emotion toward us. They are indifferent to our presence and it would be all too easy to not risk our lives for them. But, I've learned that by providing help to those who do not request it is one of the most fundamental characteristics of humanity that make us who we are. It is a necessity in our lives to help those who cannot help themselves. But is it right to call this quality into question when the recipients of our aid give no thanks? We never call these matters into question amongst each other. We are an atypical organization. We are not a religion. We are not a cult. We are a secret society. We are the Sun Protectors.

Anyone know a good last minute Hawaii site. I want to go. I don't care when. It will be price dictated ? I am travelling alone and would like to get a vacation package from DC to any island. Any ideas?

Can I take a bodyboard on British Airways flight? From BA site: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagsport/public/en_gb Sporting equipment we do not carry Due to the large size and handling complexities, some sporting equipment cannot be accommodated through the airport baggage system or within the aircraft hold. Therefore we no longer accept the following equipment at check-in as part of your sporting equipment allowance. hang gliders windsurfing boards and sails water skis exceeding maximum dimensions (H+W+L): 158cm (62in) surfboards kayaks, canoes and oars pole vaults javelins --------------- Bodyboards are not specifically mentioned. Has anyone out there managed to carry a bodyboard on a flight since the ban came into effect in November last year (2007)? If so how was it packaged? considering a big suitcase disguise. It's the 1st leg of my trip, 40 minute flight, then flying TAM to brazil, they carry boards no problem. Board dimensions: 43" x 24" x 6" or 110cm x 60cm x 15cm L+W+H = 73" or 185cm Cargo is £285! So not an option.