THE OLD PHILOSOPHER SEZ,

I wonder how much of this information was 
obtained with a Government Grant. . .

The Rest of the Story...

1. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured 
    on bed frames by ropes when you pulled on the 
    ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed 
    firmer to sleep on. 
    That's where the phrase, "goodnight, sleep tight" 
    came from.

2. The Main Library at Indiana university sinks over 
    an inch every year because when it was built, 
   engineers failed to take into account the weight 
    of all the books that would occupy the building.

3. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only 
     six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

4. There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on 
    a McDonald's Big Mac bun.

5. The world's termites out weight the worlds' 
     humans 10 to l.

6. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it 
    travels at a rate of 25 miles per year.

7. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 
   4,000 years ago that for a month after the 
   wedding, the bride's father would supply
   his son-in-law with all the mead he could 
   drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their 
   calendar was lunar based, this period was called 
   the "honey month" or what we know today as
   the "honeymoon."

8. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and 
    quarts. So in old England, when customers got 
    unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind 
    their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's 
   where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".

9. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters 
    had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of 
    their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, 
    they used the whistle to get some service. 
    "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by 
    this practice.

10. When describing the grade of cotton in the 
      old south, Fair was a very good grade of cotton, 
      Middling was a much better grade of cotton. 
      Hence the response to the question "
      How are you today?". Fair to Middling.