The secret is out: Circus staffers often add banana oil to the peanuts sold under the Big Top and that recipe gives the goobers a special flavor.
Burt Lancaster, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman all worked as waiters prior to hitting the Big Time in Hollywood.
Compact discs have been around since 1965.
And it is no wonder that I am “plump.” Scientists claim that the average adult in America has 50,000,000,000 fat cells. Meanwhile, a biologist in the Maldives has declared that some dragonflies travel more than 11,000 miles each year including an annual route from India to Africa and back. The sooty shearwater (some kind of bird) would likely not be impressed as that species yearly migrates a total distance that exceeds 40,000 miles. This perplexes me (many things do) because circumnavigating the earth would total “only” 25,000 miles. I simply report and observe.
A company called Hyperion has plans to market a nuclear ( nucular for some folks) power plant about the size of a small car that could generate enough electricity to supply 20,000 U.S. homes. The current proposal includes estimated costs at $40 million per unit. The device would be buried under at least 15 feet of earth and/or concrete. Target date is 2013.
Speaking of that target date, marketing strategists insist that the influence of television is rapidly growing and that by 2013 sixty-six percent of the world’s households (4.2 billion people) will have access to a functioning TV with the largest viewing expansions occurring in Asia and Africa.
Scientists are frequently quoted in this column because they reveal interesting tidbits. I just read in a scientific magazine that viruses are simply packets of chemicals and are technically not “alive.” That is the reason antibiotics are ineffective in battling the little whatevers. Without hosts, viruses are inert. Viruses do not convert food into energy and do not contain cells. Yet viruses do evolve, reproduce and contain genes. That sounds “alive” to me, but I am ‘way over my head here and shall move on.
It is common to equate the movie industry with productions in Hollywood. However, Paramount is currently the sole major movie studio headquartered in the famous H-town.
One of the dances which I have not fully mastered is the waltz. “Waltz” is derived from the German word “waltzen” which means “to revolve.” I wonder what might be the German word for “stumble.” Anna (my boss) says it is “stolpern.” Well, try not to stolpern much and have a great week.