Isn’t the internet wonderful?  You can learn amazing things when you go online.  My particular passion is little known and pretty much worthless information.  When I am bored, I fire up my computer and search for astounding facts.  Here are a few.

Did you know that the plastic tips at the both ends of a shoelace are Aglets?

Minnie Mouse’s real name is Minerva.

The Official Bird of Long Beach California is the Goodyear blimp.

Sign language has tongue twisters.

A jiffy is an actual measure of time.  It is 1/100 of a second.

Tell me that this information isn’t helpful.  You have to be very careful if you tell someone you will be there in a Jiffy.  Hard to deliver anything in 100th of a second.  The next time you watch a politician pontificating on the news, focus on the professional signer when the speaker says “The sixth sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.”  Very likely, they will simply lose it.  I, actually saw one signer give up in frustration and flash the bird to several million viewers on national TV.   If you are making out seating cards for your wedding be sure to label table nine for Mr. Mickey and Ms. Minerva Mouse.

How about these facts?

The Shrine of Minerva is a real place.  It resides in Handbridge, Chester England.

When I am composing this article, my left hand will hit 56 % of the keys on the keyboard and my right hand will strike 44%.

X rays cannot detect diamonds.

The dot over an “ i ” is called a tittle.

More valuable information!  I usually carry a bag of diamonds wherever I go.  Next time I have a hip X ray, I won’t have to leave the bag in a locker with my wallet, phone and car keys.  If you write a long sentence with a lot of small i’s, you will find it titillating.  The Shrine of Minerva has been touted as just short of heaven or Nirvana.  I went to Handbridge and was very disappointed.  It was nice but way short of what I am expecting in heaven.  It appears that the Shrine’s best days happened when the Romans set it up just before the birth of Christ.  It is pretty beat up now and I think it is a mistake to use it as an analogy for being in a terrific spot.

It is illegal to own only one Guinea Pig in Sweden.

If the Statue of Liberty wore shoes, they would be size 879.

Strengths is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel.

German chocolate cake was invented in Texas.

I cancelled my trip to Stockholm.  I wanted to buy one of the famous Swedish Guinea pigs and a couple pounds of meatballs.  Turns out that I have to buy two or more furry pets.  More of a commitment than I am willing to make.  Ironically, the Statue of Liberty has the same shoe size as Bob Lanier.  If “strengths” was in the Polish language it would be the 5,371 longest word with one vowel.  The German chocolate cake recipe was created by Bubba in New Braunfels, TX.   He said that he was looking for the perfect ending to a mesquite smoked brisket and Spatzel dinner.  When he first tasted the magnificent dessert, he exclaimed:  “Hey Y’All!  This will knock your hat in the ditch.”

Hopefully, you also find surfing the internet for nearly worthless facts entertaining and rewarding.  Often the obscure information correlates to other activities in our lives.  For example, I did not realize that the migratory patterns for the Official Bird of Long Beach were so widespread.  I have personally identified the creature in the skies over Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, the Players Championship in Jacksonville, and World Series in the Bronx. 

I will continue to search for other little known facts and I will pass noteworthy findings on to you in future correspondence.