First Posted: 5/8/2014

By Samantha Weaver

* It was Spanish philosopher George Santayana who made the following observation: “Sanity is a madness put to good uses.”

* On a per-pound basis, your brain uses 10 times the calories as any other part of your body.

* You might be surprised to learn that the U.S. state that is closest to Africa is Maine.

* Those who purport to predict the future usually have pretty poor track records. You might be surprised to learn, then, that in 1900, a journalist named John Watkins successfully predicted a number of significant developments that came to pass in the 20th century. In an article in the Ladies’ Home Journal, Watkins wrote that within the following 100 years, “Man will see around the world. Persons and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of cameras connected electrically with screens at opposite ends of circuits, thousands of miles at a span.” Also, “Hot or cold air will be turned on from spigots to regulate the temperature of a house”; “ready-cooked meals will be bought from establishments similar to our bakeries of today, É equipped with electric stoves, coffee-grinders, egg-beaters, stirrers, meat-saws, dishwashers and the like”; and “wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world.”

* If you listen to the radio for one hour, you will hear approximately 11,000 words spoken (or sung).

* It was beloved British author (and, of course, creator of Sherlock Holmes) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who introduced the sport of skiing to Switzerland, thereby transforming that snowy country into a premier tourist destination.

* Those who decide to go into goat farming should know that the group of goats they’re raising could be called a flock, a herd, a tribe or a trip.

***

Thought for the day: “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.” — Spanish proverb